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University  of  California. 

FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 

DR.    FRANCIS    LIBBER, 
Professor  of  History  and  Law  in  Columbia  College,  New  York. 


THE  GIFT  OF 


MICHAEL    REESE 

Of  San  Francisco. 
1ST  3. 


DISCOURSE 


IN  COMMEMORATION 


OF 


JOHN  ADAMS 

AMD 

THOMAS   JEFFERSON, 

DELIVERED   IN   FANEUIL   HAUL,    BOSTON, 

AUGUST  2,  1826. 


BY  DANIEL  WEBSTER. 


BOSTON  : 
CUMMINGS,    HILLIARD    AND    COMPANY. 


DISTRICT    OF    MASSACHUSETTS,    SS. 

District  Clerk's  Office. 

Be  it  remembered,  that  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  August,  A.  D.  1826,  and  in 
the  fifty-first  year  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
Cummings,  Hilliard  and  Company  of  the  said  District,  have  deposited  in  this 
office  the  title  of  a  book,  the  right  whereof  they  claim  as  proprietors,  in  the 
words  following,  to  wit : 

'  A  Discourse  in  Commemoration  of  the  Lives  and  Services  of  John  Adams 
and  Thomas  Jefferson,  delivered  in  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  August  2,  1826. 
By  Daniel  Webster.' 

In  conformity  to  the  Act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  entitled «  An 
Act  for  the  encouragement  of  Learning,  by  securing  the  copies  of  Maps, 
Charts,  and  Books,  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the 
times  therein  mentioned.'  And  also  to  an  Act,  entitled  '  An  Act,  supplemen 
tary  to  an  Act,  entitled  an  Act  for  the  encouragement  of  Learning,  by  secur 
ing  the  copies  of  Maps,  Charts,  and  Books,  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of 
such  copies,  during  the  times  therein  mentioned,  and  extending  the  benefits 
thereof  to  the  arts  of  designing,  engraving,  and  etching  historical  and  other 
prints.' 

JNO.  W.  DAVIS, 

Clerk  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


®itg  of 

In  Common  Council,  Aug.  7,  1826. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Mayor,  Aldermen  and  Common  Coun 
cil,  be  presented  to  DANIEL  WEBSTER,  Esq.  for  the  eloquent  Discourse  deli 
vered  by  him  in  Faneuil  Hall  by  request  of  the  City  Council,  in  memory  of 
the  late  venerable  JOHN  ADAMS  and  THOMAS  JEFFERSON  ;  and  that  he  be  in 
formed  it  is  the  wish  of  the  City  Council,  that  the  same  should  be  published. 

Resolved,  That  seven  thousand  copies  of  the  said  Discourse  be  printed  or 
otherwise  procured,  for  the  use  of  the  citizens. 

Resolved,  That  Messrs  Curtis,  Waters  and  Lodge,  with  such  as  the  board 
of  Aldermen  may  join,  be  a  Committee  to  carry  the  foregoing  resolves  into 
effect. 

Sent  up  for  concurrence.  ^ 

JOHN  R.  ADAN,  President, 


In  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  Aug.  7,  1826. 
Read  and  concurred,  and  Aldermen  Bellows  and  Marshall  are  joined. 

JOSIAH  QUINCY,  Mayor 


William  L.  Lewis,  Printer,  Congress  street. 


DISCOURSE. 


THIS  is  an  unaccustomed  spectacle.  For  the 
first  time,  fellow-citizens,  badges  of  mourning 
shroud  the  columns  and  overhang  the  arches  of 
this  HALL.  These  walls,  which  were  consecrated, 
so  long  ago,  to  the  cause  of  American  liberty, 
which  witnessed  her  infant  struggles,  and  rung 
with  the  shouts  of  her  earliest  victories,  proclaim, 
now,  that  distinguished  friends  and  champions  of 
that  great  cause  have  fallen.  It  is  right  that  it 
should  be  thus.  The  tears  which  flow,  and  the 
honors  that  are  paid,  when  the  Founders  of  the 
Republic  die,  give  hope  that  the  Republic  itself 
may  be  immortal.  It  is  fit,  that  by  public  assem 
bly  and  solemn  observance,  by  anthem  and  by 
eulogy,  we  commemorate  the  services  of  national 
benefactors,  extol  their  virtues,  and  render  thanks 
to  God  for  eminent  blessings,  early  given  and  long 
continued,  to  our  favored  country. 

ADAMS  and  JEFFERSON  are  no  more  ; 
and  we  are  assembled,  fellow-citizens,  the  aged, 
2 


the  middle  aged  and  the  young,  by  the  spontaneous 
impulse  of  all,  under  the  authority  of  the  munici- 
pial  government,  with  the  presence  of  the  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  others  its 
official  representatives,  the  university,  and  the 
learned  societies,  to  bear  our  part,  in  those  mani 
festations  of  respect  and  gratitude  which  univer 
sally  pervade  the  land.  ADAMS  and  JEFFERSON 
are  no  more.  On  our  fiftieth  anniversary,  the 
great  day  of  National  Jubilee,  in  the  very  hour  of 
public  rejoicing,  in  the  midst  of  echoing  and  re 
echoing  voices  of  thanksgiving,  while  their  own 
names  were  on  all  tongues,  they  took  their  flight, 
together,  to  the  world  of  spirits. 

If  it  be  true  that  no  one  can  safely  be  pronounced 
happy  while  he  lives ;  if  that  event  which  termi 
nates  life  can  alone  crown  its  honors  and  its  glory, 
what  felicity  is  here  !  The  great  Epic  of  their 
lives,  how  happily  concluded !  Poetry  itself  has 
hardly  closed  illustrious  lives,  and  finished  the 
career  of  earthly  renown,  by  such  a  consummation. 
If  we  had  the  power,  we  could  not  wish  to  reverse 
this  dispensation  of  the  Divine  Providence.  The 
great  objects  of  life  were  accomplished,  the  drama 
was  ready  to  be  closed ;  it  has  closed ;  our  patriots 
have  fallen ;  but  so  fallen,  at  such  age,  with  such 
coincidence,  on  such  a  day,  that  we  cannot  ration 
ally  lament  that  that  end  has  come,  which  we 
knew  could  not  be  long  deferred. 

Neither   of   these   great   men,   fellow-citizens, 


could  have  died,  at  any  time,  without  leaving  an 
immense  void  in  our  American  society.  They  have 
been  so  intimately,  and  for  so  long  a  time,  blended 
with  the  history  of  the  country,  and  especially  so 
united,  in  our  thoughts  and  recollections,  with  the 
events  of  the  Revolution,  that  the  death  of  either 
would  have  touched  the  strings  of  public  sympathy. 
We  should  have  felt  that  one  great  link,  connecting 
us  with  former  times,  was  broken ;  that  we  had  lost 
something  more,  as  it  were,  of  the  presence  of  the 
Revolution  itself,  and  of  the  act  of  independence,  and 
were  driven  on,  by  another  great  remove,  from  the 
days  of  our  country's  early  distinction,  to  meet 
posterity,  and  to  mix  with  the  future.  Like  the 
mariner,  whom  the  ocean  and  the  winds  carry  along, 
till  he  sees  the  stars  which  have  directed  his  course, 
and  lighted  his  pathless  way,  descend,  one  by  one, 
beneath  the  rising  horizon,  we  should  have  felt  that 
the  stream  of  time  had  borne  us  onward,  till  another 
great  luminary,  whose  light  had  cheered  us,  and 
whose  guidance  we  had  followed,  had  sunk  away 
from  our  sight. 

But  the  concurrence  of  their  death,  on  the  anni 
versary  of  Independence,  has  naturally  awakened 
stronger  emotions.  Both  had  been  presidents,  both 
had  lived  to  great  age,  both  were  early  patriots,  and 
both  were  distinguished  and  ever  honored  by  their 
immediate  agency  in  the  act  of  independence.  It 
cannot  but  seem  striking,  and  extraordinary,  that 
these  two  should  live  to  see  the  fiftieth  year  from 


8 

the  date  of  that  act ;  that  they  should  complete  that 
year;  and  that  then,  on  the  day  which  had  fast 
linked  forever  their  own  fame  with  their  country's 
glory,  the  heavens  should  open  to  receive  them 
both  at  once.  As  their  lives  themselves  were  the 
gifts  of  Providence,  who  is  not  willing  to  recognize 
iii  their  happy  termination,  as  well  as  in  their  long 
continuance,  proofs  that  our  country,  and  its  benefac 
tors,  are  objects  of  His  care  ? 

ADAMS  and  JEFFERSON,  I  have  said,  are  no  more. 
As  human  beings,  indeed,  they  are  no  more.  They 
are  no  more,  as  in  1776,  bold  and  fearless  advo 
cates  of  independence ;  no  more  as  on  subsequent 
periods,  the  head  of  the  government;  no  more  as 
we  have  recently  seen  them,  aged  and  venerable 
objects  of  admiration  and  regard.  They  are  no 
more.  They  are  dead.  But  how  little  is  there,  of 
the  great  and  good,  which  can  die  !  To  their  coun 
try  they  yet  live,  and  live  forever.  They  live  in 
all  that  perpetuates  the  remembrance  of  men  on 
earth  ;  in  the  recorded  proofs  of  their  own  great 
actions,  in  the  offspring  of  their  intellect,  in  the 
deep  engraved  lines  of  public  gratitude,  and  in  the 
respect  and  homage  of  mankind.  They  live  in  their 
example ;  and  they  live,  emphatically,  and  will  live  in 
the  influence  which  their  lives  and  efforts,  their  prin 
ciples  and  opinions,  now  exercise,  and  will  continue 
to  exercise,  on  the  affairs  of  men,  not  only  in  their 
own  country,  but  throughout  the  civilized  world.  A 
superior  and  commanding  human  intellect,  a  truly 


9 

great  man,  when  Heaven  vouchsafes  so  rare  a  gift, 
is  not  a  temporary  flame,  burning  bright  for  a  while, 
and  then  expiring,  giving  place  to  returning  darkness. 
It  is  rather  a  spark  of  fervent  heat,  as  well  as 
radiant  light,  with  power  to  enkindle  the  common 
mass  of  human  mind  ;  so  that  when  it  glimmers,  in 
its  own  decay,  and  finally  goes  out  in  death,  no  night 
follows,  but  it  leaves  the  world  all  light,  all  on  fire, 
from  the  potent  contact  of  its  own  spirit.  Bacon  died  ; 
but  the  human  understanding,  roused,  by  the  touch  of 
his  miraculous  wand,  to  a  perception  of  the  true  phi 
losophy,  and  the  just  mode  of  inquiring  after  truth, 
has  kept  on  its  course,  successfully  and  gloriously. 
Newton  died  ;  yet  the  courses  of  the  spheres  are  still 
known,  and  they  yet  move  on,  in  the  orbits  which 
he  saw,  and  described  for  them,  in  the  infinity  of 
space. 

No  two  men  now  live,  fellow-citizens,  perhaps 
it  may  be  doubted,  whether  any  two  men  have 
ever  lived,  in  one  age,  who,  more  than  those  we 
now  commemorate,  have  impressed  their  own  sen 
timents,  in  regard  to  politics  and  government,  on 
mankind,  infused  their  own  opinions  more  deeply 
into  the  opinions  of  others,  or  given  a  more  lasting 
direction  to  the  current  of  human  thought.  Their 
work  doth  not  perish  with  them.  The  tree  which 
they  assisted  to  plant,  will  flourish,  although  they 
water  it  and  protect  it  no  longer ;  for  it  has  struck 
its  roots  deep,  it  has  sent  them  to  the  very  centre ; 
no  storm,  not  of  force  to  burst  the  orb,  can  overturn 


10 

it ;  its  branches  spread  wide ;  they  stretch  their  pro 
tecting  arms  broader  and  broader,  and  its  top  is 
destined  to  reach  the  heavens.  We  are  not  deceived. 
There  is  no  delusion  here.  No  age  will  come,  in 
which  the  American  Revolution  will  appear  less  than 
it  is,  one  of  the  greatest  events  in  human  history. 
No  age  will  come,  in  which  it  will  cease  to  be  seen  and 
felt,  on  either  continent,  that  a  mighty  step,  a  great 
advance,  not  only  in  American  affairs,  but  in  human 
affairs,  was  made  on  the  4th  of  July  1776.  And  no 
age  will  come,  we  trust,  so  ignorant  or  so  unjust,  as 
not  to  see  and  acknowledge  the  efficient  agency  of 
these  we  now  honor,  in  producing  that  momentous 
event. 

We  are  not  assembled,  therefore,  fellow-citizens, 
as  men  overwhelmed  with  calamity  by  the  sudden 
disruption  of  the  ties  of  friendship  or  affection,  or 
as  in  despair  for  the  Republic,  by  the  untimely  blight 
ing  of  its  hopes.  Death  has  not  surprised  us  by  an 
unseasonable  blow.  We  have,  indeed,  seen  the  tomb 
close,  but  it  has  closed  only  over  mature  years,  over 
long  protracted  public  service,  over  the  weakness 
of  age,  and  over  life  itself  only  when  the  ends  of 
living  had  been  fulfilled.  These  suns,  as  they 
rose  slowly,  and  steadily,  amidst  clouds  and  storms, 
in  their  ascendant,  so  they  have  not  rushed  from  their 
meridian,  to  sink  suddenly  in  the  west.  Like  the 
mildness,  the  serenity,  the  continuing  benignity  of 
a  summer's  day,  they  have  gone  down  with  slow 
descending,  grateful,  long  lingering  light;  and  now 


11 

that  they  are  beyond  the  visible  margin  of  the 
world,  good  omens  cheer  us  from  '  the  bright  track 
of  their  fiery  car!' 

There  were  many  points  of  similarity  in  the  lives 
and  fortunes  of  these  great  men.  They  belonged 
to  the  same  profession,  and  had  pursued  its  studies 
and  its  practice,  for  unequal  lengths  of  time  indeed, 
but  with  diligence  and  effect.  Both  were  learned 
and  able  lawyers.  They  were  natives  and  inhabi 
tants,  respectively,  of  those  two  of  the  colonies, 
which,  at  the  revolution,  were  the  largest  and  most 
powerful,  and  which  naturally  had  a  lead  in  the  po 
litical  affairs  of  the  times.  When  the  colonies  be 
came,  in  some  degree,  united,  by  the  assembling  of 
a  general  congress,  they  were  brought  to  act  toge 
ther,  in  its  deliberations,  not  indeed  at  the  same 
time,  but  both  at  early  periods.  Each  had  already 
manifested  his  attachment  to  the  cause  of  the  coun 
try,  as  well  as  his  ability  to  maintain  it,  by  printed 
addresses,  public  speeches,  extensive  correspond 
ence,  and  whatever  other  mode  could  be  adopted, 
for  the  purpose  of  exposing  the  encroachments  of 
the  British  parliament  and  animating  the  people  to 
a  manly  resistance.  Both  were  not  only  decided,  but 
early  friends  of  Independence.  While  others  yet 
doubted,  they  were  resolved  ;  where  others  hesita 
ted,  they  pressed  forward.  They  were  both  mem 
bers  of  the  committee  for  preparing  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  and  they  constituted  the  sub 
committee,  appointed  by  the  other  members  to 


12 

make  the  draught.  They  left  their  seats  in  con 
gress,  being  called  to  other  public  employments,  at 
periods  not  remote  from  each  other,  although  one 
of  them  returned  to  it,  afterwards,  for  a  short  time. 
Neither  of  them  was  of  the  assembly  of  great  men 
which  formed  the  present  constitution,  and  neither 
was  at  any  time  member  of  congress  under  its  pro 
visions.  Both  have  been  public  ministers  abroad, 
both  vice-presidents,  and  both  presidents.  These 
coincidences  are  now  singularly  crowned  and  com 
pleted.  They  have  died,  together ;  and  they  died 
on  the  anniversary  of  liberty. 

When  many  of  us  were  last  in  this  place,  fel 
low-citizens,  it  was  on  the  day  of  that  anniversary. 
We  were  met  to  enjoy  the  festivities  belonging  to 
the  occasion,  and  to  manifest  our  grateful  homage 
to  our  political  fathers. 

We  did  not,  we  could  not  here,  forget  our  vene 
rable  neighbor  of  Quincy.  We  knew  that  we  were 
standing,  at  a  time  of  high  and  palmy  prosperity, 
where  he  had  stood,  in  the  hour  of  utmost  peril ; 
that  we  saw  nothing  but  liberty  and  security,  where 
he  had  met  the  frown  of  power ;  that  we  were  en 
joying  everything,  where  he  had  hazarded  every 
thing  ;  and  just  and  sincere  plaudits  rose  to  his 
name,  from  the  crowds  which  filled  this  area,  and 
hung  over  these  galleries.  He  whose  grateful  duty 
it  was  to  speak  to  us,  on  that  day,  of  the  virtues  of 
our  fathers  had,  indeed,  admonished  us  that  time 
and  years  were  about  to  level  his  venerable  frame 


13 

with  the  dust.  But  he  bade  us  hope,  that  '  the 
sound  of  a  nation's  joy,  rushing  from  our  cities, 
ringing  from  our  valleys,  echoing  from  our  hills, 
might  yet  break  the  silence  of  his  aged  ear  ;  that 
the  rising  blessings  of  grateful  millions  might  yet 
visit,  with  glad  light,  his  decaying  vision.'  Alas  ! 
that  vision  was  then  closing  forever.  Alas  !  the  si 
lence  which  was  then  settling  on  that  aged  ear,  was 
an  everlasting  silence !  For,  lo  !  in  the  very  mo 
ment  of  our  festivities,  his  freed  spirit  ascended  to 
God  who  gave  it !  Human  aid  and  human  solace 
terminate  at  the  grave ;  or  we  would  gladly  have 
borne  him  upward,  on  a  nation's  outspread  hands  ; 
we  would  have  accompanied  him,  and  with  the 
blessings  of  millions  and  the  prayers  of  millions, 
commended  him  to  the  Divine  favor. 

While  still  indulging  our  thoughts  on  the  coin 
cidence  of  the  death  of  this  venerable  man  with  the 
anniversary  of  independence,  we  learn  that  Jeffer 
son,  too,  has  fallen  ;  and  that  these  aged  patriots, 
these  illustrious  fellow-laborers,  had  left  our  world 
together.  May  not  such  events  raise  the  sugges 
tion  that  they  are  not  undesigned,  and  that  Heaven 
does  so  order  things,  as  sometimes  to  attract  strong 
ly  the  attention,  and  excite  the  thoughts  of  men  ? 
The  occurrence  has  added  new  interest  to  our  anni 
versary,  and  will  be  remembered,  in  all  time  to  come. 

The  occasion,  fellow-citizens,  requires  some  ac 
count  of  the  lives  and  services  of  JOHN  ADAMS  and 
THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  This  duty  must  necessarily 
3 


14 

be  performed  with  great  brevity,  and  in  the  dis 
charge  of  it  I  shall  be  obliged  to  confine  myself, 
principally,  to  those  parts  of  their  history  and  cha 
racter  which  belonged  to  them  as  public  men. 

JOHN  ADAMS  was  born  at  Quincy,  then  part  of 
the  ancient  town  of  Braintree,  on  the  19th  day  of 
October  (Old  Style)  1735.  He  was  a  descendant 
of  the  Puritans,  his  ancestors  having  early  emigrat 
ed  from  England,  and  settled  in  Massachusetts. 
Discovering  early  a  strong  love  of  reading  and  of 
knowledge,  together  with  marks  of  great  strength 
and  activity  of  mind,  proper  care  was  taken  by  his 
worthy  father,  to  provide  for  his  education.  He  pur 
sued  his  youthful  studies  in  Braintree,  under  Mr. 
Marsh,  a  teacher  whose  fortune  it  was  that  Josiah 
Quincy,  Jr.  as  well  as  the  subject  of  these  remarks, 
should  receive  from  him  his  instruction  in  the  rudi 
ments  of  classical  literature.  Having  been  admit 
ted,  in  1751,  a  member  of  Harvard  College,  MR. 
ADAMS  was  graduated,  in  course,  in  1755;  and 
on  the  catalogue  of  that  Institution,  his  name,  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  was  second  among  the  living 
Alumni,  being  preceded  only  by  that  of  the  venera 
ble  Holyoke.  With  what  degree  of  reputation  he 
left  the  University,  is  not  now  precisely  known.  We 
know  only  that  he  was  distinguished,  in  a  class 
which  numbered  Locke  and  Hemenway  among  its 
members.  Choosing  the  law  for  his  profession,  he 
commenced  and  prosecuted  its  studies  at  Worces 
ter,  under  the  direction  of  Samuel  Putnam,  a  gen- 


15 

tleman  whom  he  has  himself  described  as  an  acute 
man,  an  able  and  learned  lawyer,  and  as  in  large 
professional  practice  at  that  time.  In  1758,  he 
was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  commenced  business 
in  Braintree.  He  is  understood  to  have  made  his 
first  considerable  effort,  or  to  have  attained  his 
first  signal  success,  at  Plymouth,  on  one  of  those 
occasions  which  furnish  the  earliest  opportunity  for 
distinction  to  many  young  men  of  the  profession,  a 
jury  trial,  and  a  criminal  cause.  His  business 
naturally  grew  with  his  reputation,  and  his  resi 
dence  in  the  vicinity  afforded  the  opportunity,  as 
his  growing  eminence  gave  the  power,  of  entering 
on  the  larger  field  of  practice  which  the  capital  pre 
sented.  In  1 766,  he  removed  his  residence  to  Bos 
ton,  still  continuing  his  attendance  on  the  neighbor 
ing  circuits,  and  not  unfrequently  called  to  remote 
parts  of  the  Province.  In  1770  his  professional 
firmness  was  brought  to  a  test  of  some  severity, 
on  the  application  of  the  British  officers  and  sol 
diers  to  undertake  their  defence,  on  the  trial  of  the 
indictments  found  against  them  on  account  of  the 
transactions  of  the  memorable  5th  of  March.  He 
seems  to  have  thought,  on  this  occasion,  that  a 
man  can  no  more  abandon  the  proper  duties  of 
his  profession,  than  he  can  abandon  other  duties. 
The  event  proved,  that  as  he  judged  well  for  his 
own  reputation,  so  he  judged  well,  also,  for  the 
interest  and  permanent  fame  of  his  country.  The 
result  of  that  trial  proved,  that  notwithstanding 


16 

the  high  degree  of  excitement  then  existing,  in 
consequence  of  the  measures  of  the  British  gov 
ernment,  a  jury  of  Massachusetts  would  not  de 
prive  the  most  reckless  enemies,  even  the  officers 
of  that  standing  army,  quartered  among  them, 
which  they  so  perfectly  abhorred,  of  any  part  of 
that  protection  which  the  law,  in  its  mildest  and 
most  indulgent  interpretation,  afforded  to  persons 
accused  of  crimes. 

Without  pursuing  MR.  ADAMS'  professional 
course  further,  suffice  it  to  say,  that  on  the  first 
establishment  of  the  judicial  tribunals  under  the 
authority  of  the  State,  in  1776,  he  received  an 
offer  of  the  high  and  responsible  station  of  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  But  he  was  des 
tined  for  another  and  a  different  career.  From 
early  life  the  bent  of  his  mind  was  toward  politics  ; 
a  propensity,  which  the  state  of  the  times,  if  it 
did  not  create,  doubtless  very  much  strengthened. 
Public  subjects  must  have  occupied  the  thoughts 
and  filled  up  the  conversation  in  the  circles  in 
which  he  then  moved ;  and  the  interesting  ques 
tions,  at  that  time  just  arising,  could  not  but  seize 
on  a  mind,  like  his,  ardent,  sanguine  and  patriotic. 
The  letter,  fortunately  preserved,  written  by  him 
at  Worcester  so  early  as  the  12th  of  October, 
1755,  is  a  proof  of  very  comprehensive  views,  and 
uncommon  depth  of  reflection,  in  a  young  man  not 
yet  quite  twenty.  In  this  letter  he  predicted  the 
transfer  of  power,  and  the  establishment  of  a  new 


17 

seat  of  empire  in  America;  he  predicted,  also,  the  in 
crease  of  population  in  the  colonies  ;  and  anticipated 
their  naval  distinction,  and  foretold  that  all  Europe, 
combined,  could  not  subdue  them.  All  this  is  said, 
not  on  a  public  occasion,  or  for  effect,  but  in  the  style 
of  sober  and  friendly  correspondence,  as  the  result 
of  his  own  thoughts.  '  I  sometimes  retire,'  said 
he,  at  the  close  of  the  letter,  'and  laying  things 
together  form  some  reflections  pleasing  to  myself. 
The  produce  of  one  of  these  reveries  you  have 
read  above.'*  This  prognostication,  so  early  in 
his  own  life,  so  early  in  the  history  of  the  country, 
of  independence,  of  vast  increase  of  numbers,  of 
naval  force,  of  such  augmented  power  as  might 
defy  all  Europe,  is  remarkable.  It  is  more  re 
markable,  that  its  author  should  live  to  see  fulfilled 
to  the  letter,  what  could  have  seemed  to  others,  at 


*  Extract  of  a  letter  written  by  John  Adams,  dated  at  Worcester,  Massachu 
setts,  October  12,  1755. 

'Soon  after  the  reformation,  a  few  people  came  over  into  this  new  world, 
for  conscience  sake.  Perhaps  this  apparently  trivial  incident  may  transfer 
the  great  seat  of  empire  into  America.  It  looks  likely  to  me  ;  for,  if  we  can 
remove  the  turbulent  Gallicks,  our  people,  according  to  the  exactest  computa 
tions,  will  in  another  century,  become  more  numerous  than  England  itself. 
Should  this  be  the  case,  since  we  have,  I  may  say,  all  the  naval  stores  of  the 
nation  in  our  hands,  it  will  be  easy  to  obtain  a  mastery  of  the  seas ;  and 
then  the  united  force  of  all  Europe  will  not  be  able  to  subdue  us.  The  only 
way  to  keep  us  from  setting  up  for  ourselves  is  to  disunite  us. 

'Be  not  surprised  that  I  am  turned  politician.  This  whole  town  is  im 
mersed  in  politics.  The  interests  of  nations,  and  all  the  dira  of  war,  make 
the  subject  of  every  conversation.  I  sit  and  hear,  and  after  having  been 
led  through  a  maze  of  sage  observations,  I  sometimes  retire,  and  laying  thing's 
together,  form  some  reflections  pleasing  to  myself.  The  produce  of  one  of 
these  reveries  you  have  read  above.' 


18 

the  time,  but  the  extravagance  of  youthful  fancy. 
His  earliest  political  feelings  were  thus  strongly 
American  ;  and  from  this  ardent  attachment  to  his 
native  soil  he  never  departed. 

While  still  living  at  Quincy,  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty-four,  Mr.  Adams  was  present,  in  this  town, 
on  the  argument  before  the  Supreme  Court  re 
specting  Writs  of  Assistance,  and  heard  the  cele 
brated  and  patriotic  speech  of  JAMES  OTIS.  Un 
questionably,  that  was  a  masterly  performance. 
No  flighty  declamation  about  liberty,  no  superficial 
discussion  of  popular  topics,  it  was  a  learned, 
penetrating,  convincing,  constitutional  argument, 
expressed  in  a  strain  of  high  and  resolute  patriot 
ism.  He  grasped  the  question,  then  pending 
between  England  and  her  Colonies,  with  the 
strength  of  a  lion  ;  and  if  he  sometimes  sported, 
it  was  only  because  the  lion  himself  is  sometimes 
playful.  Its  success  appears  to  have  been  as  great 
as  its  merits,  and  its  impression  was  widely  felt. 
Mr.  Adams  himself  seems  never  to  have  lost  the  feel 
ing  it  produced,  and  to  have  entertained  constant 
ly  the  fullest  conviction  of  its  important  effects. 
'  I  do  say,'  he  observes,  '  in  the  most  solemn  man 
ner,  that  Mr.  Otis'  Oration  against  Writs  of  Assist 
ance,  breathed  into  this  nation  the  breath  of  life.' 

In  1765  Mr.  Adams  laid  before  the  public,  what 
I  suppose  to  be  his  first  printed  performance,  ex 
cept  essays  for  the  periodical  press,  a  Dissertation 
on  the  Canon  and  Feudal  Law.  The  object  of 


19 

this  work  was  to  show  that  our  New  England 
ancestors,  in  consenting  to  exile  themselves  from 
their  native  land,  were  actuated,  mainly,  by  the 
desire  of  delivering  themselves  from  the  power  of 
the  hierarchy,  and  from  the  monarchical  and  aris- 
tocratical  political  systems  of  the  other  continent ; 
and  to  make  this  truth  bear,  with  effect,  on  the 
politics  of  the  times.  Its  tone  is  uncommonly 
bold  and  animated,  for  that  period.  He  calls  on 
the  people,  not  only  to  defend,  but  to  study  and 
understand  their  rights  and  privileges  ;  urges  earn 
estly  the  necessity  of  diffusing  general  knowledge, 
invokes  the  clergy  and  the  bar,  the  colleges  and 
academies,  and  all  others  who  have  the  ability 
and  the  means,  to  expose  the  insidious  designs 
of  arbitrary  power,  to  resist  its  approaches,  and 
to  be  persuaded  that  there  is  a  settled  design  on 
foot  to  enslave  all  America.  '  Be  it  remembered,' 
says  the  author,  '  that  liberty  must,  at  all  haz 
ards,  be  supported.  We  have  a  right  to  it,  de 
rived  from  our  Maker.  But  if  we  had  not,  our 
fathers  have  earned  it,  and  bought  it  for  us,  at 
the  expense  of  their  ease,  their  estate,  their  plea 
sure  and  their  blood.  And  liberty  cannot  be  pre 
served  without  a  general  knowledge  among  the 
people,  who  have  a  right,  from  the  frame  of  their 
nature,  to  knowledge,  as  their  great  Creator,  who 
does  nothing  in  vain,  has  given  them  understand 
ings,  and  a  desire  to  know ;  but  besides  this,  they 
have  a  right,  an  indisputable,  unalienable,  indefea- 


20 

sible  right  to  that  most  dreaded  and  envied  kind 
of  knowledge,  I  mean  of  the  character  and  conduct 
of  their  rulers.  Rulers  are  no  more  than  attornies, 
agents,  and  trustees  of  the  people  ;  and  if  the 
cause,  the  interest  and  trust,  is  insidiously  betray 
ed,  or  wantonly  trifled  away,  the  people  have  a 
right  to  revoke  the  authority,  that  they  themselves 
have  deputed,  and  to  constitute  other  and  better 
agents,  attornies  and  trustees.' 

The  citizens  of  this  town  conferred  on  Mr. 
Adams  his  first  political  distinction,  and  clothed 
him  with  his  first  political  trust,  by  electing  him 
one  of  their  representatives,  in  1770.  Before  this 
time  he  had  become  extensively  known  throughout 
the  province,  as  well  by  the  part  he  had  acted  in 
relation  to  public  affairs,  as  by  the  exercise  of  his 
professional  ability.  He  was  among  those  who 
took  the  deepest  interest  in  the  controversy  with 
England,  and  whether  in  or  out  of  the  Legislature, 
his  time  and  talents  were  alike  devoted  to  the 
cause.  In  the  years  1773  and  1774  he  was  chosen 
a  counsellor,  by  the  members  of  the  General  Court, 
but  rejected  by  Governor  Hutchinson,  in  the  form 
er  of  those  years,  and  by  Governor  Gage  in  the 
latter. 

The  time  was  now  at  hand,  however,  when  the 
affairs  of  the  colonies  urgently  demanded  united 
councils.  An  open  rupture  with  the  parent  State 
appeared  inevitable,  and  it  was  but  the  dictate  of 
prudence,  that  those  who  were  united  by  a  com- 


21 

mon  interest  and  a  common  danger,  should  protect 
that  interest  and  guard  against  that  danger,  by 
united  efforts.  A  General  Congress  of  Delegates 
from  all  the  colonies,  having  been  proposed  and 
agreed  to,  the  House  of  Representatives,  on  the 
17th  of  June  1774,  elected  JAMES  BOWDOIN,  THO 
MAS  GUSHING,  SAMUEL  ADAMS,  JOHN  ADAMS,  and 
ROBERT  TREAT  PAINE,  delegates  from  Massachu 
setts.  This  appointment  was  made  at  Salem,  where 
the  General  Court  had  been  convened  by  Governor 
Gage,  in  the  last  hour  of  the  existence  of  a  House 
of  Representatives  under  the  provincial  Charter. 
While  engaged  in  this  important  business,  the 
Governor  having  been  informed  of  what  was  pass 
ing,  sent  his  secretary  with  a  message  dissolving 
the  General  Court.  The  secretary  finding  the 
door  locked,  directed  the  messenger  to  go  in  and 
inform  the  speaker  that  the  secretary  was  at  the 
door  with  a  message  from  the  Governor.  The 
messenger  returned,  and  informed  the  secretary 
that  the  orders  of  the  House  were  that  the  doors 
should  be  kept  fast  ;  whereupon  the  secretary 
soon  after  read  a  proclamation,  dissolving  the 
General  Court  upon  the  stairs.  Thus  terminated, 
forever,  the  actual  exercise  of  the  political  power  of 
England  in  or  over  Massachusetts.  The  four  last 
named  delegates  accepted  their  appointments,  and 
took  their  seats  in  Congress,  the  first  day  of  its 
meeting,  September  5,  1774,  in  Philadelphia. 
4 


22 

The  proceedings  of  the  first  Congress  are  well 
known,  and  have  been  universally  admired.  It  is 
in  vain  that  we  would  look  for  superior  proofs  of 
wisdom,  talent,  and  patriotism.  Lord  Chatham 
said,  that  for  himself,  he  must  declare,  that  he  had 
studied  and  admired  the  free  states  of  antiquity, 
the  master  states  of  the  world,  but  that  for  solidity 
of  reasoning,  force  of  sagacity,  and  wisdom  of 
conclusion,  no  body  of  men  could  stand  in  prefer 
ence  to  this  Congress.  It  is  hardly  inferior  praise 
to  say,  that  no  production  of  that  great  man  him 
self  can  be  pronounced  superior  to  several  of  the  pa 
pers  published  as  the  proceedings  of  this  most  able, 
most  firm,  most  patriotic  assembly.  There  is  in 
deed,  nothing,  superior  to  them  in  the  range  of  politi 
cal  disquisition.  They  not  only  embrace,  illustrate, 
and  enforce  every  thing  which  political  philosophy, 
the  love  of  liberty,  and  the  spirit  of  free  inquiry 
had  antecedently  produced,  but  they  add  new  and 
striking  views  of  their  own,  and  apply  the  whole, 
with  irresistible  force,  in  support  of  the  cause 
which  had  drawn  them  together. 

Mr.  Adams  was  a  constant  attendant  on  the 
deliberations  of  this  body,  and  bore  an  active  part 
in  its  important  measures.  He  was  of  the  com 
mittee  to  state  the  rights  of  the  colonies,  and  of 
that  also  which  reported  the  address  to  the  king. 

As  it  was  in  the  Continental  Congress,  fellow- 
citizens,  that  those  whose  deaths  have  given  rise  to 
this  occasion,  were  first  brought  together,  and  call- 


23 

ed  on  to  unite  their  industry  and  their  ability,  in 
the  service  of  the  country,  let  us  now  turn  to  the 
other  of  these  distinguished  men,  and  take  a  brief 
notice  of  his  life,  up  to  the  period  when  he  appear 
ed  within  the  walls  of  Congress. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  descended  from  ancestors 
who  had  been  settled  in  Virginia  for  some  genera 
tions,  was  born  near  the  spot  on  which  he  died,  in 
the  county  of  Albemarle,  on  the  2d  of  April,  (Old 
Style,)  1743.  His  youthful  studies  were  pursued 
in  the  neighborhood  of  his  father's  residence,  until 
he  was  removed  to  the  college  of  William  and 
Mary,  the  highest  honors  of  which  he  in  due  time 
received.  Having  left  the  college  with  reputation, 
he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  the  law,  under 
the  tuition  of  George  Wythe,  one  of  the  highest 
judicial  names  of  which  that  State  can  boast. 
At  an  early  age  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Legislature,  in  which  he  had  no  sooner  appeared 
than  he  distinguished  himself,  by  knowledge,  ca 
pacity,  and  promptitude. 

Mr.  Jefferson  appears  to  have  been  imbued 
with  an  early  love  of  letters  and  science,  and  to 
have  cherished  a  strong  disposition  to  pursue  these 
objects.  To  the  physical  sciences,  especially,  and 
to  ancient  classic  literature,  he  is  understood  to 
have  had  a  warm  attachment,  and  never  entirely 
to  have  lost  sight  of  them,  in  the  midst  of  the 
busiest  occupations.  But  the  times  were  times 
for  action,  rather  than  for  contemplation.  The 


24 

country  was  to  be  defended,  and  to  be  saved, 
before  it  could  be  enjoyed.  Philosophic  leisure 
and  literary  pursuits,  and  even  the  objects  of  pro 
fessional  attention,  were  all  necessarily  postponed 
to  the  urgent  calls  of  the  public  service.  The  exi 
gency  of  the  country  made  the  same  demand  on  Mr. 
Jefferson  that  it  made  on  others  who  had  the  abil 
ity  and  the  disposition  to  serve  it ;  and  he  obeyed 
the  call ;  thinking  and  feeling,  in  this  respect,  with 
the  great  Roman  orator  ;  Quis  enim  est  tarn  cupi- 
dus  in  perspicienda  cognoscendaque  rerum  natura, 
lit,  si  ei  tractanti  contemplantique  res  cognitione 
dignissimas  subito  sit  allatum  periculum  discri- 
menque  patrice,  cui  subvenire  opitularique  possit, 
non  ilia  omnia  relinquat  atque  abjiciat,  etiam  si 
dinumerare  se  Stellas,  out  metiri  mundi  magnitu- 
dinem  posse  arbitretur  f 

Entering,  with  all  his  heart,  into  the  cause  of 
liberty,  his  ability,  patriotism,  and  power  with  the 
pen  naturally  drew  upon  him  a  large  participation 
in  the  most  important  concerns.  Wherever  he 
was,  there  was  found  a  soul  devoted  to  the  cause, 
power  to  defend  and  maintain  it,  and  willingness 
to  incur  all  its  hazards.  In  1774  he  published  a 
Summary  View  of  the  Rights  of  British  America, 
a  valuable  production  among  those  intended  to 
show  the  dangers  which  threatened  the  liberties 
of  the  country,  and  to  encourage  the  people  in 
their  defence.  In  June  1775  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Continental  Congress,  as  successor 


25 

to  PEYTON  RANDOLPH,  who  had  retired  on  account 
of  ill  health,  and  took  his  seat  in  that  body  on  the 
21st  of  the  same  month. 

And  now,  fellow-citizens,  without  pursuing  the 
biography  of  these  illustrious  men  further,  for  the 
present,  let  us  turn  our  attention  to  the  most  pro 
minent  act  of  their  lives,  their  participation  in  the 
DECLARATION  of  INDEPENDENCE. 

Preparatory  to  the  introduction  of  that  important 
measure,  a  committee,  at  the  head  of  which  was 
Mr.  Adams,  had  reported  a  resolution,  which  Con 
gress  adopted  the  10th  of  May,  recommending,  in 
substance,  to  all  the  colonies  which  had  not  already 
established  governments  suited  to  the  exigencies  of 
their  affairs,  to  adopt  such  government,  as  would, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  representatives  of  the  people, 
best  conduce  to  the  happiness  and  safety  of  their 
constituents  in  particular,  and  America  in  general. 

This  significant  vote  was  soon  followed  by  the 
direct  proposition,  which  RICHARD  HENRY  LEE  had 
the  honor  to  submit  to  congress,  by  resolution,  on 
the  7th  day  of  June.  The  published  journal  does 
not  expressly  state  it,  but  there  is  no  doubt,  I  sup 
pose,  that  this  resolution  was  in  the  same  words, 
when  originally  submitted  by  Mr.  Lee,  as  when 
finally  passed.  Having  been  discussed,  on  Satur 
day  the  8th,  and  Monday  the  10th  of  June,  this  re 
solution  was  on  the  last  mentioned  day  postponed, 
for  further  consideration,  to  the  first  day  of  July  : 
and,  at  the  same  time  it  was  voted,  that  a  commit- 


26 

tee  be  appointed  to  prepare  a  DECLARATION,  to  the 
effect  of  the  resolution.  This  committee  was  elect 
ed  by  ballot,  on  the  following  day,  and  consisted 
of  THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  JOHN  ADAMS,  BENJAMIN 
FRANKLIN,  ROGER  SHERMAN,  and  ROBERT  R.  LIV 
INGSTON. 

It  is  usual,  when  committees  are  elected  by  bal 
lot,  that  their  members  are  arranged,  in  order, 
according  to  the  number  of  votes  which  each  has  re 
ceived.  Mr.  Jefferson,  therefore,  had  received  the 
highest,  and  Mr.  Adams  the  next  highest  number 
of  votes.  The  difference  is  said  to  have  been  but 
of  a  single  vote.  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Adams, 
standing  thus  at  the  head  of  the  committee,  were 
requested,  by  the  other  members,  to  act  as  a  sub 
committee,  to  prepare  the  draft ;  and  Mr.  Jefferson 
drew  up  the  paper.  The  original  draft,  as  brought 
by  him  from  his  study,  and  submitted  to  the  other 
members  of  the  committee,  with  interlineations  in 
the  hand-writing  of  Dr.  Franklin,  and  others  in 
that  of  Mr.  Adams,  was  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  posses 
sion  at  the  time  of  his  death.  The  merit  of  this 
paper  is  Mr.  Jefferson's.  Some  changes  were 
made  in  it,  on  the  suggestion  of  other  members  of 
the  committee,  and  others  by  Congress  while  it 
was  under  discussion.  But  none  of  them  altered 
the  tone,  the  frame,  the  arrangement,  or  the  gen 
eral  character  of  the  instrument.  As  a  composi 
tion,  the  declaration  is  Mr.  Jefferson's.  It  is  the 


27 

production  of  his  mind,  and  the  high  honor  of  it  be 
longs  to  him,  clearly  and  absolutely. 

It  has  sometimes  been  said,  as  if  it  were  a  dero 
gation  from  the  merits  of  this  paper,  that  it  con 
tains  nothing  new ;  that  it  only  states  grounds  of 
proceeding,  and  presses  topics  of  argument,  which 
had  often  been  stated  and  pressed  before.  But  it 
was  not  the  object  of  the  declaration  to  produce 
any  thing  new.  It  was  not  to  invent  reasons  for 
independence,  but  to  state  those  which  governed 
the  Congress.  For  great  and  sufficient  causes,  it 
was  proposed  to  declare  independence  ;  and  the 
proper  business  of  the  paper  to  be  drawn,  was  to 
set  forth  those  causes,  and  justify  the  authors  of  the 
measure,  in  any  event  of  fortune,  to  the  country, 
and  to  posterity.  The  cause  of  American  inde 
pendence,  moreover,  was  now  to  be  presented  to 
the  world,  in  such  manner,  if  it  might  so  be,  as  to 
engage  its  sympathy,  to  command  its  respect,  to 
attract  its  admiration ;  and  in  an  assembly  of  most 
able  and  distinguished  men,  THOMAS  JEFFERSON 
had  the  high  honor  of  being  the  selected  advo 
cate  of  this  cause.  To  say  that  he  performed  his 
great  work  well,  would  be  doing  him  injustice. 
To  say  that  he  did  excellently  well,  admirably  well, 
would  be  inadequate  and  halting  praise.  Let  us 
rather  say,  that  he  so  discharged  the  duty  assigned 
him,  that  all  Americans  may  well  rejoice  that  the 
work  of  drawing  the  title  deed  of  their  liberties  de 
volved  on  his  hands. 


28 

With  all  its  merits,  there  are  those  who  have 
thought  that  there  was  one  thing  in  the  declaration 
to  be  regretted  ;  and  that  is,  the  asperity  and  ap 
parent  anger  with  which  it  speaks  of  the  person  of 
the  king  ;  the  industrious  ability  with  which  it  ac 
cumulates  and  charges  upon  him,  all  the  injuries 
which  the  colonies  had  suffered  from  the  mother 
country.  Possibly  some  degree  of  injustice,  now 
or  hereafter,  at  home  or  abroad,  may  be  done  to 
the  character  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  if  this  part  of  the 
declaration  be  not  placed  in  its  proper  light.  An 
ger  or  resentment,  certainly,  much  less  personal  re 
proach  and  invective,  could  not  properly  find  place, 
in  a  composition  of  such  high  dignity,  and  of  such 
lofty  and  permanent  character. 

A  single  reflection  on  the  original  ground  of  dis 
pute,  between  England  and  the  colonies,  is  suffi 
cient  to  remove  any  unfavorable  impression,  in  this 
respect. 

The  inhabitants  of  all  the  colonies,  while  colo 
nies,  admitted  themselves  bound  by  their  allegi 
ance  to  the  king  ;  but  they  disclaimed,  altogether, 
the  authority  of  parliament ;  holding  themselves,  in 
this  respect,  to  resemble  the  condition  of  Scotland 
and  Ireland,  before  the  respective  unions  of  those 
kingdoms  with  England,  when  they  acknowledged 
allegiance  to  the  same  king,  but  each  had  its  sepa 
rate  legislature.  The  tie,  therefore,  which  our  re 
volution  was  to  break,  did  not  subsist  between  us 
and  the  British  parliament,  or  between  us  and  the 


29 

British  government,  in  the  aggregate  ;  but  directly 
between  us  and  the  king  himself.  The  colonies 
had  never  admitted  themselves  subject  to  parlia 
ment.  That  was  precisely  the  point  of  the  origi 
nal  controversy.  They  had  uniformly  denied  that 
parliament  had  authority  to  make  laws  for  them. 
There  was,  therefore,  no  subjection  to  parliament 
to  be  thrown  off.*  But  allegiance  to  the  king  did 
exist,  and  had  been  uniformly  acknowledged  ;  and 
down  to  1775  the  most  solemn  assurances  had  been 
given  that  it  was  not  intended  to  break  that  allegi 
ance,  or  to  throw  it  off.  Therefore,  as  the  direct 
object,  and  only  effect  of  the  declaration,  according 
to  the  principles  on  which  the  controversy  had  been 
maintained,  on  our  part,  was  to  sever  the  tie  of  al 
legiance  which  bound  us  to  the  king,  it  was  pro 
perly  and  necessarily  founded  on  acts  of  the  crown 
itself,  as  its  justifying  causes.  Parliament  is  not 
so  much  as  mentioned,  in  the  whole  instrument. 
When  odious  and  oppressive  acts  are  referred  to, 
it  is  done  by  charging  the  king  with  confederating, 


*  This  question,  of  the  power  of  parliament  over  the  colonies,  was  discuss 
ed  with  singular  ability,  by  Gov.  Hutchinson  on  the  one  side,  and  the  house 
of  representatives  of  Massachusetts  on  the  other,  in  1773.  The  argument  of 
the  House  is  in  the  form  of  an  answer  to  the  governor's  message,  and  was  re 
ported  by  Mr.  Samuel  Adams,  Mr.  Hancock,  Mr.  Hawley,  Mr.  Bowers,  Mr. 
Hobson,  Mr.  Foster,  Mr.  Phillips,  and  Mr.  Thayer.  As  the  power  of  the  par 
liament  had  been  acknowledged,  so  far  at  least  as  to  affect  us  by  laws  of 
trade,  it  was  not  easy  to  settle  the  line  of  distinction.  It  was  thought  how 
ever  to  be  very  clear,  that  the  charters  of  the  colonies  had  exempted  them 
from  the  general  legislation  of  the  British  parliament.  See  Massachusetts 
State  Papers,  p.  351. 

5 


30 

with  others,  'in  pretended  acts  of  legislation  ;'  the 
object  being,  constantly,  to  hold  the  king  himself 
directly  responsible  for  those  measures  which  were 
the  grounds  of  separation.  Even  the  precedent  of 
the  English  revolution  was  not  overlooked,  and  in 
this  case,  as  well  as  in  that,  occasion  was  found  to 
say  that  the  king  had  abdicated  the  government. 
Consistency  with  the  principles  upon  which  resist 
ance  began,  and  with  all  the  previous  state  papers 
issued  by  congress,  required  that  the  declaration 
should  be  bottomed  on  the  misgovernment  of  the 
king ;  and  therefore  it  was  properly  framed  with 
that  aim  and  to  that  end.  The  king  was  known, 
indeed,  to  have  acted,  as  in  other  cases,  by  his 
ministers,  and  with  his  parliament ;  but  as  our  an 
cestors  had  never  admitted  themselves  subject 
either  to  ministers  or  to  parliament,  there  were 
no  reasons  to  be  given  for  now  refusing  obedience 
to  their  authority.  This  clear  and  obvious  neces 
sity  of  founding  the  declaration  on  the  misconduct 
of  the  king  himself,  gives  to  that  instrument  its 
personal  application,  and  its  character  of  direct  and 
pointed  accusation. 

The  declaration  having  been  reported  to  con 
gress,  by  the  committee,  the  resolution  itself  was 
taken  up  and  debated  on  the  first  day  of  July, 
and  again  on  the  second,  on  which  last  day  it  was 
agreed  to  and  adopted,  in  these  words, 

Resolved,  THAT  THESE    UNITED    COLONIES   ARE, 

AND  OF  RIGHT  OUGHT  TO  BE,  FREE  AND  INDEPENDENT 


STATES  ;  THAT  THEY  ARE  ABSOLVED  FROM  ALL  AL 
LEGIANCE  TO  THE  BRITISH  CROWJN,  AND  THAT  ALL 
POLITICAL  CONNEXION  BETWEEN  THEM,  AND  THE 
STATE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  IS,  AND  OUGHT  TO  BE,  TO 
TALLY  DISSOLVED. 

Having  thus  passed  the  main  resolution,  Con 
gress  proceeded  to  consider  the  reported  draft  of 
the  declaration.  It  was  discussed  on  the  second, 
and  third,  and  FOURTH  days  of  the  month,  in  com 
mittee  of  the  whole  ;  and  on  the  last  of  those  days, 
being  reported  from  that  committee,  it  received  the 
final  approbation  and  sanction  of  Congress.  It 
was  ordered,  at  the  same  time,  that  copies  be  sent 
to  the  several  States,  and  that  it  be  proclaimed  at 
the  head  of  the  army.  The  declaration  thus  pub 
lished,  did  not  bear  the  names  of  the  members,  for 
as  yet  it  had  not  been  signed  by  them.  It  was 
authenticated,  like  other  papers  of  the  Congress, 
by  the  signatures  of  the  President  and  Secretary. 
On  the  19th  of  July,  as  appears  by  the  secret  jour 
nal,  Congress  'Resolved,  that  the  declaration,  pass 
ed  on  the  fourth,  be  fairly  engrossed  on  parchment, 
with  the  title  and  style  of  "  THE  UNANIMOUS  DECLA 
RATION  OF  THE  THIRTEEN  UNITED  STATES  OF  AME 
RICA  ;"  and  that  the  same,  when  engrossed,  be 
signed  by  every  member  of  Congress.'  And  on 
the  SECOND  DAY  OF  AUGUST,  following,  'the  decla 
ration,  being  engrossed  and  compared  at  the  table, 
was  signed  by  the  members.'  So  that  it  happens, 
fellow-citizens,  that  we  pay  these  honors  to  their 


32 

memory,  on  the  anniversary  of  that  day,  on  which 
these  great  men  actually  signed  their  names  to  the 
declaration.  The  declaration  was  thus  made,  that  is, 
it  passed,  and  was  adopted,  as  an  act  of  Congress, 
on  the  fourth  of  July  ;  it  was  then  signed  and  cer 
tified  by  the  president  and  secretary,  like  other 
acts.  The  FOURTH  OF  JULY,  therefore,  is  the  ANNI 
VERSARY  OF  THE  DECLARATION.  But  the  signatures 
of  the  members  present  were  made  to  it,  being 
then  engrossed  on  parchment,  on  the  second  day 
of  August.  Absent  members  afterwards  signed, 
as  they  came  in  ;  and  indeed  it  bears  the  names 
of  some  who  were  not  chosen  members  of  Con 
gress,  until  after  the  fourth  of  July.  The  interest 
belonging  to  the  subject,  will  be  sufficient,  I  hope, 
to  justify  these  details. 

The  Congress  of  the  Revolution,  fellow-citizens? 
sat  with  closed  doors,  and  no  report  of  its  debates 
was  ever  taken.  The  discussion,  therefore,  which 
accompanied  this  great  measure,  has  never  been 
preserved,  except  in  memory,  and  by  tradition. 
But  it  is,  I  believe,  doing  no  injustice  to  others,  to 
say,  that  the  general  opinion  was,  and  uniformly 
has  been,  that  in  debate,  on  the  side  of  independ 
ence,  JOHN  ADAMS  had  no  equal.  The  great 
author  of  the  declaration  himself  has  expressed 
that  opinion  uniformly  and  strongly.  '  JOHN  ADAMS,' 
said  he,  in  the  hearing  of  him  who  has  now  the 
honor  to  address  you,  '  JOHN  ADAMS  was  our  Co 
lossus  on  the  floor.  Not  graceful,  not  elegant, 


33 

not  always  fluent,  in  his  public  addresses,  he  yet 
came  out  with  a  power,  both  of  thought  and  of 
expression,  which  moved  us  from  our  seats.' 

For  the  part  which  he  was  here  to  perform,  Mr. 
Adams  doubtless  was  eminently  fitted.  He  pos 
sessed  a  bold  spirit,  which  disregarded  danger, 
and  a  sanguine  reliance  on  the  goodness  of  the 
cause,  and  the  virtues  of  the  people,  which  led  him 
to  overlook  all  obstacles.  His  character,  too,  had 
been  formed  in  troubled  times.  He  had  been 
rocked  in  the  early  storms  of  the  controversy,  and 
had  acquired  a  decision  and  a  hardihood,  propor 
tioned  to  the  severity  of  the  discipline  which  he 
had  undergone. 

He  not  only  loved  the  American  cause  devoutly, 
but  had  studied  and  understood  it.  It  was  all 
familiar  to  him.  He  had  tried  his  powers,  on 
the  questions  which  it  involved,  often,  and  in  va 
rious  ways  ;  and  had  brought  to  their  consideration 
whatever  of  argument  or  illustration  the  history 
of  his  own  country,  the  history  of  England,  or  the 
stores  of  ancient  or  of  legal  learning  could  furnish. 
Every  grievance,  enumerated  in  the  long  catalogue 
of  the  declaration,  had  been  the  subject  of  his  dis 
cussion,  and  the  object  of  his  remonstrance  and 
reprobation.  From  1760,  the  colonies,  the  rights 
of  the  colonies,  the  liberties  of  the  colonies,  and 
the  wrongs  inflicted  on  the  colonies,  had  engaged 
his  constant  attention  ;  and  it  has  surprised  those, 
who  have  had  the  opportunity  of  observing,  with 


34 

what  full  remembrance,  and  with  what  prompt 
recollection,  he  could  refer,  in  his  extreme  old  age, 
to  every  act  of  Parliament  affecting  the  colonies, 
distinguishing  and  stating  their  respective  titles, 
sections,  and  provisions  ;  and  to  all  the  colonial 
memorials,  remonstances,  and  petitions,  with  what 
ever  else  belonged  to  the  intimate  and  exact  histo 
ry  of  the  times  from  that  year  to  1 775.  It  was  in 
his  own  judgment,  between  these  years,  that  the 
American  people  came  to  a  full  understanding  and 
thorough  knowledge  of  their  rights,  and  to  a  fixed 
resolution  of  maintaining  them ;  and  bearing  him 
self  an  active  part  in  all  important  transactions,  the 
controversy  with  England  being  then,  in  effect,  the 
business  of  his  life,  facts,  dates  and  particulars 
made  an  impression  which  was  never  effaced.  He 
was  prepared,  therefore,  by  education  and  disci 
pline,  as  well  as  by  natural  talent  and  natural  tem 
perament,  for  the  part  which  he  was  now  to  act. 

The  eloquence  of  Mr.  Adams  resembled  his 
general  character,  and  formed,  indeed,  a  part  of  it. 
It  was  bold,  manly,  and  energetic  ;  and  such  the 
crisis  required.  /  When  public  bodies  are  to  be 
addressed  on  momentous  occasions,  when  great 
interests  are  at  stake,  and  strong  passions  excited, 
nothing  is  valuable,  in  speech,  farther  than  it  is 
connected  with  high  intellectual  and  moral  endow 
ments.  Clearness,  force,  and  earnestness  are  the 
qualities  which  produce  conviction,  (jrue  elo 
quence,  indeed,  does  not  consist  in  speech.  It 


35 

cannot  be  brought  from  far.  Labor  and  learning 
may  toil  for  it,  but  they  will  toil  in  vain.  Words 
and  phrases  may  be  marshalled  in  every  way,  but 
they  cannot  compass  it.  It  must  exist  in  the  man, 
in  the  subject,  and  in  the  occasion.  Affected  pas 
sion,  intense  expression,  the  pomp  of  declamation, 
all  may  aspire  after  it— -they  cannot  reach  it.  It 
comes,  if  it  come  at  all,  like  the  outbreaking  of  a 
fountain  from  the  earth,  or  the  bursting  forth  of  vol 
canic  fires,  with  spontaneous,  original,  native  force. 
The  graces  taught  in  the  schools,  the  costly  orna 
ments,  and  studied  contrivances  of  speech,  shock 
and  disgust  men,  when  their  own  lives,  and  the  fate 
of  their  wives,  their  children,  and  their  country, 
hang  on  the  decision  of  the  hour.  Then  words  have 
lost  their  power,  rhetoric  is  vain,  and  all  elaborate 
oratory  contemptible.  Even  genius  itself  then 
feels  rebuked,  and  subdued,  as  in  the -presence  of 
higher  qualities.  Then,  patriotism  is  eloquent ; 
then,  self-devotion  is  eloquent.  The  clear  con 
ception,  out-running  the  deductions  of  logic,  the 
high  purpose,  the  firm  resolve,  the  dauntless  spirit, 
speaking  on  the  tongue,  beaming  from  the  eye, 
informing  every  feature,  and  urging  the  whole  man 
onward,  right  onward  to  his  object — this,  this  is 
eloquence  ;  or  rather  it  is  something  greater  and 
higher  than  all  elocfuence,  it  is  action,  noble,  sub 
lime,  godlike  actions 

In  July  1776,  the   controversy   had   passed  the 
stage  of  argument.     An  appeal  had  been  made  to 


36 

force,  and  opposing  armies  were  in  the  field.  Con 
gress,  then,  was  to  decide  whether  the  tie  which 
had  so  long  bound  us  to  the  parent  State,  was  to 
be  severed  at  once,  and  severed  forever.  All  the 
colonies  had  signified  their  resolution  to  abide  by 
this  decision,  and  the  people  looked  for  it  with  the 
most  intense  anxiety.  And  surely,  fellow-citizens, 
never,  never  were  men  called  to  a  more  important 
political  deliberation.  If  we  contemplate  it  from 
the  point  where  they  then  stood,  no  question  could 
be  more  full  of  interest ;  if  we  look  at  it  now,  and 
judge  of  its  importance  by  its  effects,  it  appears  in 
still  greater  magnitude. 

Let  us,  then,  bring  before  us  the  assembly,  which 
was  about  to  decide  a  question  thus  big  with  the 
fate  of  empire.  Let  us  open  their  doors,  and  look 
in  upon  their  deliberations.  Let  us  survey  the 
anxious  and  care-worn  countenances,  let  us  hear 
the  firm-toned  voices,  of  this  band  of  patriots. 

HANCOCK  presides  over  the  solemn  sitting ;  and 
one  of  those  not  yet  prepared  to  pronounce  for 
absolute  independence,  is  on  the  floor,  and  is 
urging  his  reasons  for  dissenting  from  the  decla 
ration. 

1  Let  us  pause  !  This  step,  once  taken,  cannot 
be  retraced.  This  resolution,  once  passed,  will 
cut  off  all  hope  of  reconciliation.  If  success  attend 
the  arms  of  England,  we  shall  then  be  no  longer 
colonies,  with  charters,  and  with  privileges  ;  these 
will  all  be  forfeited  bv  this  act ;  and  we  shall  be 


'37 

in  the  condition  of  other  conquered  people,  at  the 
mercy  of  the  conquerors.  For  ourselves,  we  may 
be  ready  to  run  the  hazard ;  but  are  we  ready  to 
carry  the  country  to  that  length  ?  Is  success  so 
probable  as  to  justify  it  ?  Where  is  the  military, 
where  the  naval  power,  by  which  we  are  to  resist 
the  whole  strength  of  the  arm  of  England,  for 
she  will  exert  that  strength  to  the  utmost  ?  Can 
we  rely  on  the  constancy  and  perseverance  of  the 
people  ?  or  will  they  not  act,  as  the  people  of  other 
countries  have  acted,  and  wearied  with  a  long  war, 
submit,  in  the  end,  to  a  worse  oppression  ?  While 
we  stand  on  our  old  ground,  and  insist  on  redress 
of  grievances,  we  know  we  are  right,  and  are 
not  answerable  for  consequences.  Nothing,  then, 
can  be  imputable  to  us.  But  if  we  now  change 
our  object,  carry  our  pretensions  further,  and  set 
up  for  absolute  independence,  we  shall  lose  the 
sympathy  of  mankind.  We  shall  no  longer  be 
defending  what  we  possess,  but  struggling  for 
something  which  we  never  did  possess,  and  which 
we  have  solemnly  and  uniformly  disclaimed  all  in 
tention  of  pursuing,  from  the  very  outset  of  the 
troubles.  Abandoning  thus  our  old  ground,  of 
resistance  only  to  arbitrary  acts  of  oppression,  the 
nations  will  believe  the  whole  to  have  been  mere 
pretence,  and  they  will  look  on  us,  not  as  injured, 
but  as  ambitious,  subjects.  I  shudder,  before  this 
responsibility.  It  will  be  on  us,  if  relinquishing 
the  ground  we  have  stood  on  so  long,  and  stood 
6 


38 

on  so  safely,  we  now  proclaim  independence,  and 
carry  on  the  war  for  that  object,  while  these  cities 
burn,  these  pleasant  fields  whiten  and  bleach  with 
the  bones  of  their  owners,  and  these  streams  run 
blood.  It  will  be  upon  us,  it  will  be  upon  us,  if  fail 
ing  to  maintain  this  unseasonable  and  ill-judged 
declaration,  a  sterner  despotism,  maintained  by 
military  power,  shall  be  established  over  our  pos 
terity,  when  we  ourselves,  given  up  by  an  exhaust 
ed,  a  harrassed,  a  misled  people,  shall  have  expi 
ated  our  rashness  and  atoned  for  our  presumption, 
on  the  scaffold.' 

It  was  for  Mr.  Adams  to  reply  to  arguments  like 
these.  We  know  his  opinions,  and  we  know  his 
character.  He  would  commence  with  his  accus 
tomed  directness  and  earnestness. 

'  Sink  or  swim,  live  or  die,  survive  or  perish,  I 
give  my  hand,  and  my  heart,  to  this  vote.  It  is 
true,  indeed,  that  in  the  beginning,  we  aimed  not 
at  independence.  But  there's  a  Divinity  which 
shapes  our  ends.  The  injustice  of  England  has 
driven  us  to  arms  ;  and,  blinded  to  her  own  inter 
est  for  our  good,  she  has  obstinately  persisted,  till 
independence  is  now  within  our  grasp.  We  have 
but  to  reach  forth  to  it,  and  it  is  ours.  Why  then 
should  we  defer  the  declaration  ?  Is  any  man  so 
weak  as  now  to  hope  for  a  reconciliation  with  En 
gland,  which  shall  leave  either  safety  to  the  coun 
try  and  its  liberties,  or  safety  to  his  own  life,  and 
his  own  honor  ?  Are  not  you,  sir,  who  sit  in  that 


39 

chair,  is  not  he,  our  venerable  colleague  near  you, 
are  you  not  both  already  the  proscribed  and  pre 
destined  objects  of  punishment  and  of  vengeance  ? 
Cut  off  from  all  hope  of  royal  clemency,  what  are 
you,  what  can  you  be,  while  the  power  of  England 
remains,  but  outlaws  ?  If  we  postpone  independ 
ence,  do  we  mean  to  carry  on,  or  to  give  up,  the 
war  ?  Do  we  mean  to  submit  to  the  measures  of 
parliament,  Boston  port-bill  and  all  ?  Do  we  mean 
to  submit,  and  consent  that  we  ourselves  shall  be 
ground  to  powder,  and  our  country  and  its  rights 
trodden  down  in  the  dust?  I  know  we  do  not 
mean  to  submit.  We  never  shall  submit.  Do  we 
intend  to  violate  that  most  solemn  obligation  ever 
entered  into  by  men,  that  plighting,  before  God,  of 
our  sacred  honor  to  Washington,  when  putting  him 
forth  to  incur  the  dangers  of  war,  as  well  as  the 
political  hazards  of  the  times,  we  promised  to  ad 
here  to  him,  in  every  extremity,  with  our  fortunes 
and  our  lives  ?  I  know  there  is  not  a  man  here,  who 
would  not  rather  see  a  general  conflagration  sweep 
over  the  land,  or  an  earthquake  sink  it,  than  one 
jot  or  tittle  of  that  plighted  faith  fall  to  the  ground. 
For  myself,  having,  twelve  months  ago,  in  'this 
place,  moved  you,  that  George  Washington  be  ap 
pointed  commander  of  the  forces,  raised  or  to  be 
raised,  for  defence  of  American  liberty,  may  my 
right  hand  forget  her  cunning,  and  my  tongue 
cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth,  if  I  hesitate  or  wa 
ver,  in  the  support  I  give  him.  The  war,  then> 


40 

must  go  on.  We  must  fight  it  through.  And  if 
the  war  must  go  on,  why  put  off  longer  the  De 
claration  of  Independence  ?  That  measure  will 
strengthen  us.  It  will  give  us  character  abroad. 
The  nations  will  then  treat  with  us,  which  they 
never  can  do  while  we  acknowledge  ourselves  sub 
jects,  in  arms  against  our  sovereign.  Nay  I  main 
tain  that  England,  herself,  will  sooner  treat  for 
peace  with  us  on  the  footing  of  Independence,  than 
consent,  by  repealing  her  acts,  to  acknowledge  that 
her  whole  conduct  towards  us  has  been  a  course  of 
injustice  and  oppression.  Her  pride  will  be  less 
wounded,  by  submitting  to  that  course  of  things 
which  now  predestinates  our  independence,  than 
by  yielding  the  points  in  controversy  to  her  rebel 
lious  subjects.  The  former  she  would  regard  as 
the  result  of  fortune ;  the  latter  she  would  feel  as 
her  own  deep  disgrace.  Why  then,  why  then,  sir, 
do  we  not  as  soon  as  possible,  change  this  from  a 
civil  to  a  national  war  ?  And  since  we  must  fight 
it  through,  why  not  put  ourselves  in  a  state  to 
enjoy  all  the  benefits  of  victory,  if  we  gain  the 
victory  ? 

If  we  fail,  it  can  be  no  worse  for  us.  But  we 
shall  not  fail.  The  cause  will  raise  up  armies ; 
the  cause  will  create  navies.  The  people,  the  peo 
ple,  if  we  are  true  to  them,  will  carry  us,  and  will 
carry  themselves,  gloriously,  through  this  struggle. 
I  care  not  how  fickle  other  people  have  been  found. 
I  know  the  people  of  these  colonies,  and  I  know 


41 

that  resistance  to  British  aggression  is  deep  and 
settled  in  their  hearts  and  cannot  be  eradicated. 
Every  colony,  indeed,  has  expressed  its  willingnes  s 
to  follow,  if  we  but  take  the  lead.    Sir,  the  decla 
ration  will  inspire  the  people  with   increased  cour 
age.     Instead  of  a  long  and  bloody  war  for  resto 
ration  of  privileges,  for  redress  of  grievances,  for 
chartered  immunities,   held  under  a  British  king, 
set  before  them  the  glorious  object  of  entire  inde 
pendence,  and  it  will  breathe  into  them  anew  the 
breath  of  life.     Read  this  declaration  at  the  head 
of  the  army  ;  every  sword  will  be   drawn  from  its 
scabbard,  arid  the  solemn  vow  uttered,  to  maintain 
it,  or  to  perish  on  the  bed  of  honor.     Publish  it 
from  the  pulpit  ;  religion  will  approve  it,  and  the 
love  of  religious  liberty  will  cling  round  it,  resolved 
to  stand  with  it,  or  fall  with  it.     Send  it  to  the  pub 
lic  halls  ;  proclaim  it  there  ;  let  them  hear  it,  who 
heard  the  first  roar  of  the  enemy's  cannon  ;  let  them 
see  it,  who  saw  their  brothers  and  their  sons  fall  on 
the  field  of  Bunkerhill,  and  in  the  streets  of  Lex 
ington  and  Concord,   and  the  very  walls  will  cry 
out  in  its  support. 

Sir,  I  know  the  uncertainty  of  human  affairs,  but 
I  see,  I  see  clearly,  through  this  day's  business. 
You  and  I,  indeed,  may  rue  it.  We  may  not  live 
to  the  time,  when  this  declaration  shall  be  made 
good.  We  may  die  ;  die,  colonists  ;  die,  slaves  ; 
die,  it  may  be,  ignominiously  and  on  the  scaffold. 
Be  it  so.  Be  it  so.  If  it  be  the  pleasure  of  Hea- 


42 

ven  that  my  country  shall  require  the  poor  offering 
of  my  life,  the  victim  shall  be  ready,  at  the  appoint 
ed  hour  of  sacrifice,  come  when  that  hour  may. 
But  while  I  do  live,  let  me  have  a  country,  or  at 
least  the  hope  of  a  country,  and  that  a  free  country. 

But  whatever  may  be  our  fate,  be  assured,  be  as 
sured,  that  this  declaration  will  stand.  It  may  cost 
treasure,  and  it  may  cost  blood  ;  but  it  will  stand, 
and  it  will  richly  compensate  for  both.  Through 
the  thick  gloom  of  the  present,  I  see  the  brightness 
of  the  future,  as  the  sun  in  Heaven.  We  shall 
make  this  a  glorious,  an  immortal  day.  When  we 
are  in  our  graves,  our  children  will  honor  it.  They 
will  celebrate  it,  with  thanksgiving,  with  festivity, 
with  bonfires,  and  illuminations.  On  its  annual 
return  they  will  shed  tears,  copious,  gushing  tears, 
not  of  subjection  and  slavery,  not  of  agony  and 
distress,  but  of  exultation,  of  gratitude,  and  of  joy. 
Sir,  before  God,  I  believe  the  hour  is  come.  My 
judgment  approves  this  measure,  and  my  whole 
heart  is  in  it.  All  that  I  have,  and  all  that  I  am,  and! 
all  that  I  hope,  in  this  life,  I  am  now  ready  here  to 
stake  upon  it ;  and  I  leave  off,  as  I  begun,  that 
live  or  die,  survive  or  perish,  1  am  for  the  declara 
tion.  It  is  my  living  sentiment,  and  by  the  blessing 
of  God  it  shall  be  my  dying  sentiment ;  independ 
ence,  now;  and  INDEPENDENCE  FOREVER.' 

And  so  that  day  shall  be  honored,  illustrious 
prophet  and  patriot  !  so  that  day  shall  be  honored, 
and  as  often  as  it  returns,  thy  renown  shall  come 


43 

along  with  it,  and  the  glory  of  thy  life,  like  the  day 
of  thy  death,  shall  not  fail  from  the  remembrance 
of  men. 

It  would  be  unjust,  fellow-citizens,  on  this  occa 
sion,  while  we  express  our  veneration  for  him  who 
is  the  immediate  subject  of  these  remarks,  were  we 
to  omit  a  most  respectful,  affectionate,  arid  grateful 
mention  of  those  other  great  men,  his  colleagues, 
who  stood  with  him,  and  with  the  same  spirit, 
the  same  devotion,  took  part  in  the  interesting 
transaction.  HANCOCK,  the  proscribed  HANCOCK, 
exiled  from  his  home  by  a  military  governor,  cut 
off,  by  proclamation,  from  the  mercy  of  the  crown, 
heaven  reserved,  for  him,  the  distinguished  honor 
of  putting  this  great  question  to  the  vote,  and  of 
writing  his  own  name  first,  and  most  conspicuously, 
on  that  parchment  which  spoke  defiance  to  the 
power  of  the  crown  of  England.  There,  too,  is 
the  name  of  that  other  proscribed  patriot,  SAMUEL 
ADAMS  ;  a  man  who  hungered  and  thirsted  for  the 
independence  of  his  country  ;  who  thought  the  de 
claration  halted  and  lingered,  being  himself  not 
only  ready,  but  eager,  for  it,  long  before  it  was 
proposed  ;  a  man  of  the  deepest  sagacity,  the 
clearest  foresight,  and  the  profoundest  judgment 
in  men.  And  there  is  GERRY,  himself  among  the 
earliest  and  the  foremost  of  the  patriots,  found, 
when  the  battle  of  Lexington  summoned  them  to 
common  councils,  by  the  side  of  WARREN  ;  a  man 
who  lived  to  serve  his  country  at  home  and  abroad. 


44 

and  to  die  in  the  second  place  in  the  government. 
There,  too,  is  the  inflexible,  the  upright,  the  Spar 
tan  character,  ROBERT  TREAT  PAINE.  He,  also,  lived 
to  serve  his  country  through  the  struggle,  and  then 
withdrew  from  her  councils,  only  that  he  might  give 
his  labors  and  his  life  to  his  native  State,  in  another 
relation.  These  names,  fellow -citizens,  are  the 
treasures  of  the  commonwealth  ;  and  they  are  trea 
sures  which  grow  brighter  by  time. 

It  is  now  necessary  to  resume,  and  to  finish 
with  great  brevity,  the  notice  of  the  lives  of  those, 
whose  virtues  and  services  we  have  met  to  com 
memorate. 

Mr.  ADAMS  remained  in  congress  from  its  first 
meeting,  till  November  1777,  when  he  was  appoint 
ed  minister  to  France.  He  proceeded  on  that  ser 
vice,  in  the  February  following,  embarking  in  the 
Boston  frigate,  on  the  shore  of  his  native  town,  at 
the  foot  of  Mount  Wollaston.  The  year  following, 
he  was  appointed  commissioner  to  treat  of  peace 
with  England.  Returning  to  the  United  States,  he 
was  a  delegate  from  Brain  tree  in  the  convention  for 
framing  the  constitution  of  this  Commonwealth,  in 
1 780.  At  the  latter  end  of  the  same  year,  he  again 
went  abroad^  in  the  diplomatic  service  of  the  coun 
try,  and  was  employed  at  various  courts,  and  occu 
pied  with  various  negotiations,  until  1788.  The 
particulars  of  these  interesting  and  important  ser 
vices  this  occasion  does  not  allow  time  to  relate.  In 
1782  he  concluded  our  first  treaty  with  Holland. 


45 

His  negotiations  with  that  republic,  his  efforts  to 
persuade  the  States-General  to  recognize  our  inde 
pendence,  his  incessant  and  indefatigable  exertions 
to  represent  the  American  cause  favorably,  on  the. 
Continent,  and  to  counteract  the  designs  of  its 
enemies,  open  and  secret ;  and  his  successful  un 
dertaking  to  obtain  loans,  on  the  credit  of  a  nation 
yet  new  and  unknown,  are  among  his  most  ardu 
ous,  most  useful,  most  honorable  services.  It  was 
his  fortune  to  bear  a  part  in  the  negotiation  for 
peace  with  England,  and  in  something  more  than 
six  years  from  the  declaration  which  he  had  so 
strenuously  supported,  he  had  the  satisfaction  to 
see  the  minister  plenipotentiary  of  the  crown  sub 
scribe  to  the  instrument  which  declared,  that  his 
*  Britanic  Majesty  acknowledged  the  United  States 
to  be  free,  sovereign,  and  independent.5  In  these 
important  transactions,  Mr.  Adams'  conduct  re 
ceived  the  marked  approbation  of  Congress,  and 
of  the  country. 

While  abroad,  in  1787,  he  published  his  Defence 
of  the  American  Constitutions  ;  a  work  of  merit, 
and  ability,  though  composed  with  haste,  on  the 
spur  of  a  particular  occasion,  in  the  rnidst  of  other 
occupations,  and  under  circumstances  not  admitt 
ing  of  careful  revision.  The  immediate  object  of 
the  work  was  to  counteract  the  weight  of  opinions 
advanced  by  several  popular  European  writers  of 
that  day,  Mr.  Turgot,  the  Abbe  de  Mably,  and  Dr. 
Price,  at  a  time  when  the  people  of  the  United 


46 

States  were  employed  in  forming  and  revising  their 
systems  of  government. 

Returning  to  the  United  States  in  1788,  he 
found  the  new  government  about  going  into  opera 
tion,  and  was  himself  elected  the  first  Vice-Pre 
sident,  a  situation  which  he  filled  with  reputation 
for  eight  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which  he  was 
raised  to  the  Presidential  chair,  as  immediate  suc 
cessor  to  the  immortal  Washington.  In  this  high 
station  he  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  after 
a  memorable  controversy,  between  their  respective 
friends,  in  1801  ;  and  from  that  period  his  manner 
of  life  has  been  known  to  all  who  hear  me.  He 
has  lived,  for  five  and  twenty  years/  with  every 
enjoyment  that  could  render  old  age  happy.  Not 
inattentive  to  the  occurrences  of  the  times,  political 
cares  have  yet  not  materially,  or  for  any  long  time, 
disturbed  his  repose.  In  1 820  he  acted  as  elector 
of  President  and  Vice-President,  and  in  the  same 
year  we  saw  him,  then  at  the  age  of  eighty-five, 
a  member  of  the  convention  of  this  Common 
wealth,  called  to  revise  the  Constitution.  Forty 
years  before,  he  had  been  one  of  those  who  formed 
that  Constitution  ;  and  he  had  now  the  pleasure 
of  witnessing  that  there  was  little  which  the  people 
desired  to  change.  Possessing  all  his  faculties  to 
the  end  of  his  long  life,  with  an  unabated  love 
of  reading  and  contemplation,  in  the  centre  of 
interesting  circles  of  friendship  and  affection, 
he  was  blessed,  in  his  retirement,  with  whatever 


47 

of  repose  and  felicity,  the  condition  of  man  al 
lows.  He  had,  also  other  enjoyments.  He  saw 
around  him  that  prosperity  and  general  happi 
ness,  which  had  been  the  object  of  his  public 
cares  and  labors.  No  man  ever  beheld  more  clear 
ly,  and  for  a  longer  time,  the  great  and  beneficial 
effects  of  the  services  rendered  by  himself  to  his 
country.  That  liberty,  which  he  so  early  defend 
ed,  that  independence  of  which  he  was  so  able  an 
advocate  and  supporter,  he  saw,  we  trust,  firmly 
and  securely  established.  The  population  of  the 
country  thickened  around  him  faster,  and  extended 
wider,  than  his  own  sanguine  predictions  had  anti 
cipated  ;  and  the  wealth,  respectability,  and  power 
of  the  nation  sprang  up  to  a  magnitude,  which  it 
is  quite  impossible  he  could  have  expected  to  wit 
ness,  in  his  day.  He  lived,  also,  to  behold  those 
principles  of  civil  freedom,  which  had  been  deve 
loped,  established,  and  practically  applied  in  Ame 
rica,  attract  attention,  command  respect,  and  awak 
en  imitation,  in  other  regions  of  the  globe  :  and  well 
might,  and  well  did  he,  exclaim,  *  Where  will  the 
consequences  of  the  American  Revolution  end  !' 

If  any  thing  yet  remain  to  fill  this  cup  of  happi 
ness,  let  it  be  added,  that  he  lived  to  see  a  great 
and  intelligent  people  bestow  the  highest  honor  in 
their  gift,  where  he  had  bestowed  his  own  kindest 
parental  affections,  and  lodged  his  fondest  hopes. 
Thus  honored  in  life,  thus  happy  at  death,  he  saw 
the  JUBILEE,  and  he  died  ;  and  with  the  last  prayers 


48 

which  trembled  on  his  lips,  was  the  fervent  suppli 
cation  for  his  country,  '  independence  forever.' 

Mr.  Jefferson,  having  been  occupied  in  the  years 
1778  and  1779,  in  the  important  service  of  revising 
the  laws  of  Virginia,  was  elected  Governor  of  that 
State,  as  successor  to  Patrick  Henry,  and  held  the 
situation  when  the  State  was  invaded  by  the  Bri 
tish  arms.  In  1781  he  published  his  Notes  on 
Virginia,  a  work  which  attracted  attention  in  Eu 
rope  as  well  as  America,  dispelled  many  mis 
conceptions  respecting  this  Continent,  and  gave 
its  author  a  place  among  men  distinguished  for 
science.  In  November  1783,  he  again  took  his 
seat  in  the  Continental  Congress,  but  in  the  May 
following  was  appointed  Minister  Plenipotentiary, 
to  act  abroad,  in  the  negotiation  of  commercial 
treaties,  with  Dr.  Franklin  and  Mr.  Adams.  He 
proceeded  to  France,  in  execution  of  this  mission, 
embarking  at  Boston  ;  and  that  was  the  only  occa 
sion  on  which  he  ever  visited  this  place.  In  1785 
he  was  appointed  minister  to  France,  the  duties 
of  which  situation  he  continued  to  perform,  until 
October  1789,  when  he  obtained  leave  to  retire, 
just  on  the  eve  of  that  tremendous  Revolution 
which  has  so  much  agitated  the  world,  in  our  times. 
Mr.  Jefferson's  discharge  of  his  diplomatic  duties 
was  marked  by  great  ability,  diligence,  and  patriot 
ism  ;  and  while  he  resided  at  Paris,  in  one  of  the 
most  interesting  periods,  his  character  for  intelli 
gence,  his  love  of  knowledge,  and  of  the  society 


49 

of  learned  men,  distinguished  him  in  the  highest 
circles  of  the  French  capital.  No  court  in  Europe 
had,  at  that  time,  in  Paris,  a  representative  com 
manding  or  enjoying  higher  regard,  for  political 
knowledge  or  for  general  attainment,  than  the 
minister  of  this  then  infant  republic.  Immediately 
on  his  return  to  his  native  country,  at  the  organiza 
tion  of  the  government  under  the  present  Constitu 
tion,  his  talents  and  experience  recommended  him  to 
President  Washington,  for  the  first  office  in  his  gift. 
He  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Department  of 
State.  In  this  situation,  also,  he  manifested  conspi 
cuous  ability.  His  correspondence  with  the  minis 
ters  of  other  powers  residing  here,  and  his  instruc 
tions  to  our  own  diplomatic  agents  abroad,  are 
among  our  ablest  State  Papers.  A  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  laws  and  usages  of  nations,  per 
fect  acquaintance  with  the  immediate  subject  be 
fore  him,  great  felicity,  and  still  greater  facility,  in 
writing,  shew  themselves  in  whatever  effort  his 
official  situation  called  on  him  to  make.  It  is 
believed,  by  competent  judges,  that  the  diplomatic 
intercourse  of  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
from  the  first  meeting  of  the  Continental  Congress 
in  1774  to  the  present  time,  taken  together,  would 
not  suffer,  in  respect  to  the  talent  with  which  it 
has  been  conducted,  by  comparison  with  anything 
which  other  and  older  States  can  produce  ;  and  to 
the  attainment  of  this  respectability  and  distinction, 
Mr.  Jefferson  has  contributed  his  full  part. 


50 

On  the  retirement  of  General  Washington  from 
the  presidency,  and  the  election  of  Mr.  Adams  to 
that  office,  in  1797,  he  was  chosen  Vice-President. 
While  presiding,  in  this  capacity,  over  the  deliber 
ations  of  the  senate,  he  compiled  and  published  a 
Manual  of  Parliamentary  Practice,  a  work  of  more 
labor  and  more  merit,  than  is  indicated  by  its  size. 
It  is  now  received,  as  the  general  standard,  by 
which  proceedings  are  regulated,  not  only  in  both 
Houses  of  Congress,  but  in  most  of  the  other  legis 
lative  bodies  in  the  country.  In  1801,  he  was 
elected  President,  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Adams,  and 
re-elected  in  1805,  by  a  vote  approaching  towards 
unanimity. 

From  the  time  of  his  final  retirement  from  pub 
lic  life,  in  1807,  Mr.  Jefferson  lived,  as  became  a 
wise  man.  Surrounded  by  affectionate  friends,  his 
ardor  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  undiminished, 
with  uncommon  health,  and  unbroken  spirits,  he 
was  able  to  enjoy  largely  the  rational  pleasures  of 
life,  and  to  partake  in  that  public  prosperity,  which 
he  had  so  much  contributed  to  produce.  His  kind 
ness  and  hospitality,  the  charm  of  his  conversation, 
the  ease  of  his  manners,  the  extent  of  his  acquire 
ments,  and  especially  the  full  store  of  revolutionary 
incidents,  which  he  possessed,  and  which  he  knew 
when  and  how  to  dispense,  rendered  his  abode  in 
a  high  degree  attractive  to  his  admiring  country 
men,  while  his  high  public  and  scientific  character 
drew  towards  him  every  intelligent  and  educated 


51 

traveller  from  abroad.  Both  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr, 
Jefferson  had  the  pleasure  of  knowing  that  the  re 
spect,  which  they  so  largely  received,  was  not  paid 
to  their  official  stations.  They  were  not  men  made 
great  by  office  ;  but  great  men,  on  whom  the  coun 
try  for  its  own  benefit  had  conferred  office.  There 
was  that  in  them,  which  office  did  not  give,  and 
which  the  relinquishment  of  office  did  not,  and 
could  not,  take  away.  In  their  retirement,  in  the 
midst  of  their  fellow-citizens,  themselves  private 
citizens,  they  enjoyed  as  high  regard  and  esteem, 
as  when  filling  the  most  important  places  of  pub 
lic  trust. 

There  remained  to  Mr.  Jefferson  yet  one  other 
work  of  patriotism  and  beneficence,  the  establish 
ment  of  a  university  in  his  native  state.  To  this 
object  he  devoted  years  of  incessant  and  anxious 
attention,  and  by  the  enlightened  liberality  of  the 
legislature  of  Virginia,  and  the  co-operation  of 
other  able  and  zealous  friends,  he  lived  to  see  it 
accomplished.  May  all  success  attend  this  infant 
seminary ;  and  may  those  who  enjoy  its  advantages, 
as  often  as  their  eyes  shall  rest  on  the  neighboring 
height,  recollect  what  they  owe  to  their  disinterest 
ed  and  indefatigable  benefactor ;  and  nify  letters 
honor  him  who  thus  labored  in  the  cause  of  letters. 

Thus  useful,  and  thus  respected,  passed  the  old 
age  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  But  time  was  on  its 
ever-ceaseless  wing,  and  was  now  bringing  the  last 
hour  of  this  illustrious  man.  He  saw  its  approach. 


with  undisturbed  serenity.  He  counted  the  mo 
ments,  as  they  passed,  and  beheld  that  his  last 
sands  were  falling.  That  day,  too,  was  at  hand, 
which  he  had  helped  to  make  immortal.  One 
wish,  one  hope — if  it  were  not  presumptuous — 
beat  in  his  fainting  breast.  Could  it  be  so — might 
it  please  God — he  would  desire — once  more — to 
see  the  sun — once  more  to  look  abroad  on  the 
Scene  around  him,  on  the  great  day  of  liberty. 
Heaven,  in  its  mercy,  fulfilled  that  prayer.  He 
saw  that  sun — he  enjoyed  its  sacred  light — he 
thanked  God,  for  this  mercy,  and  bowed  his  aged 
head  to  the  grave.  '  Felix,  non  mice,  tantum  cla- 
ritate,  sed  etiam  opportunitate  mortis .' 

The  last  public  labor  of  Mr.  Jefferson  naturally 
suggests  the  expression  of  the  high  praise  which  is 
due,  both  to  him  and  to  Mr.  Adams,  for  their  uni 
form  and  zealous  attachment  to  learning,  and  to 
the  cause  of  general  knowledge.  Of  the  advanta 
ges  of  learning,  indeed,  and  of  literary  accomplish 
ments,  their  own  characters  were  striking  recom 
mendations,  and  illustrations.  They  were  scholars, 
ripe  and  good  scholars  ;  widely  acquainted  with 
ancient,  as  well  as  modern  literature,  and  not  alto 
gether  uninstructed  in  the  deeper  sciences.  Their 
acquirements,  doubtless,  were  different,  and  so 
were  the  particular  objects  of  their  literary  pur 
suits  ;  as  their  tastes  and  characters,  in  these  re 
spects,  differed  like  those  of  other  men.  Being, 
also,  men  of  busy  lives,  with  great  objects,  requiring 


53 

action,  constantly  before  them,  their  attainments  in 
letters  did  not  become  showy,  or  obtrusive.  Yet, 
I  would  hazard  the  opinion,  that  if  we  could  now 
ascertain  all  the  causes  which  gave  them  eminence 
and  distinction,  in  the  midst  of  the  great  men  with 
whom  they  acted,  we  should  find,  not  among  the 
least,  their  early  acquisition  in  literature,  the  re 
sources  which  it  furnished,  the  promptitude  and 
facility  which  it  communicated,  and  the  wide  field 
it  opened,  for  analogy  and  illustration ;  giving 
them,  thus,  on  every  subject,  a  larger  view,  and  a 
broader  range,  as  well  for  discussion,  as  for  the 
government  of  their  own  conduct. 

Literature  sometimes,  and  pretensions  to  it 
much  oftener,  disgusts,  by  appearing  to  hang 
loosely  on  the  character,  like  something  foreign 
or  extraneous,  not  a  part,  but  an  ill-adjusted 
appendage  ;  or  by  seeming  to  overload  and 
weigh  it  down,  by  its  unsightly  bulk,  like  the 
productions  of  bad  taste  in  architecture,  where 
there  is  massy  and  cumbrous  ornament,  without 
strength  or  solidity  of  column.  This  has  exposed 
learning,  and  especially  classical  learning,  to  re- 
"proach.  Men  have  seen  that  it  might  exist,  with 
out  mental  superiority,  without  vigor,  without  good 
taste,  and  without  utility.  But,  in  such  cases,  class 
ical  learning  has  only  not  inspired  naturahalent ;  or, 
at  most,  it  has  but  made  original  feebleness  of  intel 
lect,  and  natural  bluntness  of  perception,  something 
more  conspicuous.  The  question,  after  all,  if  it  be 
8 


54 

a  question,  is,  whether  literature,  ancient  as  well  as 
modern,  does  not  assist  a  good  understanding,  im 
prove  natural  good  taste,  add  polished  armour  to 
native  strength,  and  render  its  possessor,  not  only 
more  capable  of  deriving  private  happiness  from 
contemplation  and  reflection,  but  more  accomplish 
ed,  also,  for  action,  in  the  affairs  of  life,  and  espe 
cially  for  public  action.  Those  whose  memories 
we  now  honor,  were  learned  men  ;  but  their  learn 
ing  was  kept  in  its  proper  place,  and  made  subser 
vient  to  the  uses  and  objects  of  life.  They  were 
scholars  not  common,  nor  superficial ;  but  their 
scholarship  was  so  in  keeping  with  their  charac 
ter,  so  blended  and  inwrought,  that  careless  observ 
ers,  or  bad  judges,  not  seeing  an  ostentatious  dis 
play  of  it,  might  infer  that  it  did  not  exist ;  forget 
ting,  or  not  knowing,  that  classical  learning,  in  men 
who  act  in  conspicuous  public  stations,  perform 
duties  which  exercise  the  faculty  of  writing,  or  ad 
dress  popular,  deliberative,  or  judicial  bodies,  is 
often  felt,  where  it  is  little  seen,  and  sometimes 
felt  more  effectually,  because  it  is  not  seen  at  all. 

But  the  cause  of  knowledge,  in  a  more  enlarged 
sense,  the  cause  of  general  knowledge  and  of  pop 
ular  education,  had  no  warmer  friends,  nor  more 
powerful  advocates,  than  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr.  Jef 
ferson.  On  this  foundation,  they  knew,  the  whole 
republican  system  rested  ;  and  this  great  and  all- 
important  truth  they  strove  to  impress,  by  all  the 
means  in  their  power.  In  the  early  publication, 
already  referred  to,  Mr.  Adams  expresses  the 


55 

strong  and  just  sentiment,  that  the  education  of  the 
poor  is  more  important,  even  to  the-rich  themselves, 
than  all  their  own  riches.  On  this  great  truth,  in 
deed,  is  founded  that  unrivalled,  that  invaluable  po 
litical  and  moral  institution,  our  own  blessing,  and 
the  glory  of  our  fathers,  the  New  England  system 
of  free  schools. 

As  the  promotion  of  knowledge  had  been  the  ob 
ject  of  their  regard  through  life,  so  these  great  men 
made  it  the  subject  of  their  testamentary  bounty. 
Mr.  Jefferson  is  understood  to  have  bequeathed  his 
library  to  the  university,  and  that  of  Mr.  Adams  is 
bestowed  on  the  inhabitants  of  Quincy. 

Mr.  Adams,  and  Mr.  Jefferson,  fellow-citizens, 
were  successively  Presidents  of  the  United  States. 
The  comparative  merits  of  their  respective  admi 
nistrations  for  a  long  time  agitated  and  divided  pub 
lic  opinion.  They  were  rivals,  each  supported  by 
numerous  and  powerful  portions  of  the  people,  for 
the  highest  office.  This  contest,  partly  the  cause, 
and  partly  the  consequence,  of  the  long  existence  of 
two  great  political  parties  in  the  country,  is  now 
part  of  the  history  of  our  government.  We  may 
naturally  regret,  that  any  thing  should  have  occur 
red  to  create  difference  and  discord,  between  those 
who  had  acted  harmoniously  and  efficiently  in  the 
great  concerns  of  the  revolution.  But  this  is  not 
the  time,  nor  this  the  occasion,  for  entering  into 
the  grounds  of  that  difference,  or  for  attempting 
to  discuss  the  merits  of  the  questions  which  it  in- 


56 

volves.  As  practical  questions,  they  were  canvass 
ed,  when  the  measures  which  they  regarded  were 
acted  on  and  adopted  ;  and  as  belonging  to  history, 
the  time  has  not  come  for  their  consideration. 

It  is,  perhaps,  not  wonderful,  that  when  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States  went  first  into  opera 
tion,  different  opinions  should  be  entertained,  as 
to  the  extent  of  the  powers  conferred  by  it.  Here 
was  a  natural  source  of  diversity  of  sentiment.  It 
is  still  less  wonderful,  that  that  event,  about  eon- 
temporary  with  our  government,  under  the  pre 
sent  Constitution,  which  so  entirely  shocked  all 
Europe,  and  disturbed  our  relations  with  her  lead 
ing  powers,  should  be  thought,  by  different  men, 
to  have  different  bearings  on  our  own  prosperity  ; 
and  that  the  early  measures,  adopted  by  our  gov 
ernment,  in  consequence  of  this  new  state  of  things, 
should  be  seen  in  opposite  lights.  It  is  for  the 
future  historian,  when  what  now  remains  of  preju 
dice  and  misconception  shall  have  passed  away,  to 
state  these  different  opinions,  and  pronounce  im 
partial  judgment.  In  the  meantime,  all  good  men 
rejoice,  and  well  may  rejoice,  that  the  sharpest 
differences  sprung  out  of  measures,  which,  whether 
right  or  wrong,  have  ceased,  with  the  exigencies 
that  gave  them  birth,  and  have  left  no  permanent 
effect,  either  on  the  Constitution,  or  on  thfe  general 
prosperity  of  the  country.  This  remark,  I  am 
aware,  may  be  supposed  to  have  its  exception,  in 
one  measure,  the  alteration  of  the  Constitution,  as 


57 

to  the  mode  of  choosing  President ;  but  it  is  true, 
in  its  general  application.  Tims  the  course  of 
policy  pursued  towards  France,  in  1798,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  measures  of  commercial  restric 
tion,  commenced  in  1807,  on  the  other,  both  sub 
jects  of  warm  and  severe  opposition,  have  passed 
away,  and  left  nothing  behind  them.  They  were 
temporary,  and  whether  wise  or  unwise,  their  con 
sequences  were  limited  to  their  respective  occa 
sions.  It  is  equally  clear,  at  the  same  time,  and 
it  is  equally  gratifying,  that  those  measures  of  both 
administrations,  which  were  of  durable  importance, 
and  which  drew  after  them  interesting  and  long 
remaining  consequences,  have  received  general 
approbation.  Such  was  the  organization,  or  rather 
the  creation,  of  the  navy,  in  the  administration  of 
Mr.  Adams  ;  such  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana,  in 
that  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  The  country,  it  may  safely 
be  added,  is  not  likely  to  be  willing  either  to  ap 
prove,  or  to  reprobate,  indiscriminately,  and  in  the 
aggregate,  all  the  measures  of  either,  or  of  any, 
administration.  The  dictate  of  reason  and  of  jus 
tice  is,  that,  holding  each  one  his  own  sentiments 
on  the  points  in  difference,  we  imitate  the  great 
men  themselves,  in  the  forbearance  and  modera 
tion  which  they  have  cherished,  and  in  the  mutual 
respect  and  kindness  which  they  have  been  so 
much  inclined  to  feel  and  to  reciprocate. 

No  men,  fellow-citizens,  ever  served  their  coun 
try  with  more  entire  exemption  from  every  imputa- 


58 

tion  of  selfish  and  mercenary  motive  than  those  to 
whose  memory  we  are  paying  these  proofs  of 
respect.  A  suspicion  of  any  disposition  to  enrich 
themselves,  or  to  profit  by  their  public  employ 
ments,  never  rested  on  either.  No  sordid  motive 
approached  them.  The  inheritance  which  they 
have  left  to  their  children,  is  of  their  character  and 
their  fame. 

Fellow-citizens,  I  will  detain  you  no  longer  by 
this  faint  and  feeble  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the 
illustrious  dead.  Even  in  other  hands,  adequate 
justice  could  not  be  performed,  within  the  limits 
of  this  occasion.  Their  highest,  their  best  praise, 
is  your  deep  conviction  of  their  merits,  your  affec 
tionate  gratitude  for  their  labors  and  services. 
It  is  not  my  voice,  it  is  this  cessation  of  ordinary 
pursuits,  this  arresting  of  all  attention,  these  sol 
emn  ceremonies,  and  this  crowded  house,  which 
speak  their  eulogy.  Their  fame,  indeed,  is  safe. 
That  is  now  treasured  up,  beyond  the  reach  of  ac 
cident.  Although  no  sculptured  marble  should  rise 
to  their  memory,  nor  engraved  stone  bear  record 
of  their  deeds,  yet  will  their  remembrance  be  as 
lasting  as  the  land  they  honored.  Marble  columns 
may,  indeed,  moulder  into  dust,  time  may  erase  all 
impress  from  the  crumbling  stone,  but  their  fame 
remains  ;  for  with  AMERICAN  LIBERTY  it  rose,  and 
with  AMERICAN  LIBERTY  ONLY  can  it  perish.  It 
was  the  last  swelling  peal  of  yonder  choir,  '  THEIR 

BODIES     ARE     BURIED     IN     PEACE,     BUT     THEIR     NAME 


LIVETH  EVERMORE.'     I  catch  that  solemn  song,  1 
echo  that  lofty  strain  of  funeral  triumph,  '  THEIR 

NAME  LIVETH  EVERMORE.' 

Of  the  illustrious  signers  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  there  now  remains  only  CHARLES 
CARROLL.  He  seems  an  aged  oak,  standing  alone 
On  the  plain,  which  time  has  spared  a  little  longer, 
after  all  its  contemporaries  have  been  levelled  with 
the  dust.  Venerable  object !  we  delight  to  gather 
round  its  trunk,  while  yet  it  stands,  and  to  dwell 
beneath  its  shadow.  Sole  survivor  of  an  assembly 
of  as  great  men  as  the  world  has  witnessed,  in  a 
transaction,  one  of  the  most  important  that  history 
records,  what  thoughts,  what  interesting  reflections 
must  fill  his  elevated  and  devout  soul !  If  he  dwell 
on  the  past,  how  touching  its  recollections  ;  if  he 
survey  the  present,  how  happy,  how  joyous,  how 
full  of  the  fruition  of  that  hope,  which  his  ardent 
patriotism  indulged  ;  if  he  glance  at  the  future, 
how  does  the  prospect  of  his  country's  advance 
ment  almost  bewilder  his  weakened  conception  ! 
Fortunate,  distinguished  patriot !  Interesting  relic 
of  the  past  !  Let  him  know  that  while  we  honor 
the  dead,  we  do  not  forget  the  living;  and  that 
there  is  not  a  heart  here  which  does  not  fervently 
pray,  that  Heaven  may  keep  him  yet  back  from 
the  society  of  his  companions. 

And  now,  fellow-citizens,  let  us  not  retire  from 
this  occasion,  without  a  deep  and  solemn  convic 
tion  of  the  duties  which  have  devolved  upon  us. 


60 

This  lovely  land,  this  glorious  liberty,  these  benign 
institutions,  the  dear  purchase  of  our  fathers,  are 
ours ;  ours  to  enjoy,  ours  to  preserve,  ours  to  trans 
mit.  Generations  past,  and  generations  to  come, 
hold  us  responsible  for  this  sacred  trust.  Our 
fathers,  from  behind,  admonish  us,  with  their 
anxious  paternal  voices,  posterity  calls  out  to  us, 
from  the  bosom  of  the  future,  the  world  turns 
hither  its  solicitous  eyes — all,  all  conjure  us  to  act 
wisely,  and  faithfully,  in  the  relation  which  we 
sustain.  We  can  never,  indeed,  pay  the  debt 
which  is  upon  us ;  but  by  virtue,  by  morality,  by 
religion,  by  the  cultivation  of  every  good  principle 
and  every  good  habit,  we  may  hope  to  enjoy  the 
blessing,  through  our  day,  and  to  leave  it  unimpair 
ed  to  our  children.  Let  us  feel  deeply  how  much, 
of  what  we  are  and  of  what  we  possess,  we  owe  to 
this  liberty,  and  these  institutions  of  government. 
Nature  has,  indeed,  given  us  a  soil,  which  yields 
bounteously  to  the  hands  of  industry,  the  mighty 
and  fruitful  ocean  is  before  us,  and  the  skies  over 
our  heads  shed  health  and  vigor.  But  what  are 
lands,  and  seas,  and  skies,  to  civilized  man,  without 
society,  without  knowledge,  without  morals,  with 
out  religious  culture  ;  and  how  can  these  be  enjoy 
ed,  in  all  their  extent,  and  all  their  excellence,  but 
under  the  protection  of  wise  institutions  and  a  free 
government  ?  Fellow-citizens,  there  is  not  one  of 
us,  there  is  not  one  of  us  here  present,  who  does 
not,  at  this  moment,  and  at  every  moment,  expe- 


61 

rience,  in  his  own  condition,  and  in  the  condition  of 
those  most  near  and  dear  to  him,  the  influence  and 
the  benefits  of  this  liberty,  and  these  institutions. 
Let  us  then  acknowledge  the  blessing,  let  us  feel 
it  deeply  and  powerfully,  let  us  cherish  a  strong 
affection  for  it,  and  resolve  to  maintain  and  perpet 
uate  it.  The  blood  of  our  fathers,  let  it  not  have 
been  shed  in  vain  ;  the  great  hope  of  posterity,  let 
it  not  be  blasted. 

The  striking  attitude,  too,  in  which  we  stand  to 
the  world  around  us,  a  topic  to  which,  I  fear,  I 
advert  too  often,  and  dwell  on  too  long,  cannot 
be  altogether  omitted  here.  Neither  individuals 
nor  nations  can  perform  their  part  well,  until 
they  understand  and  feel  its  importance,  and 
comprehend  and  justly  appreciate  all  the  duties  be 
longing  to  it.  It  is  not  to  inflate  national  vanity, 
nor  to  swell  a  light  and  empty  feeling  of  self-impor 
tance,  but  it  is  that  we  may  judge  justly  of  our 
situation,  and  of  our  own  duties,  that  I  earnestly 
urge  this  consideration  of  our  position,  and  our 
character,  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  It  can 
not  be  denied,  but  by  those  who  would  dispute 
against  the  sun,  that  with  America,  and  in  Ame 
rica,  a  new  era  commences  in  human  affairs.  This 
era  is  distinguished  by  Free  Representative  Gov 
ernments,  by  entire  religious  liberty,  by  improved 
systems  of  national  intercourse,  by  a  newly  awaken 
ed,  and  an  unconquerable  spirit  of  free  inquiry,  and 
by  a  diffusion  of  knowledge  through  the  community, 
9 


62 

such  as  has  been  before  altogether  unknown  and  un 
heard  of.  America,  America,  our  country,  fellow- 
citizens,  our  own  dear  and  native  land,  is  insepara 
bly  connected,  fast  bound  up,  in  fortune  and  by  fate, 
with  these  great  interests.  If  they  fail,  we  fall  with 
them ;  if  they  stand,  it  will  be  because  we  have 
upholden  them.  Let  us  contemplate,  then,  this 
connexion,  which  binds  the  prosperity  of  others  to 
our  own  ;  and  let  us  manfully  discharge  all  the 
duties  which  it  imposes.  If  we  cherish  the  virtues 
and  the  principles  of  our  fathers,  Heaven  will  assist 
us  to  carry  on  the  work  of  human  liberty  and  hu 
man  happiness.  Auspicious  omens  cheer  us.  Great 
examples  are  before  us.  Our  own  firmament  now 
shines  brightly  upon  our  path.  WASHINGTON  is  in 
the  clear  upper  sky.  These  other  stars  have  now 
joined  the  American  constellation ;  they  circle 
round  their  centre,  and  the  heavens  beam  with  new 
light.  Beneath  this  illumination,  let  us  walk  the 
course  of  life,  and  at  its  close  devoutly  commend 
our  beloved  country,  the  common  parent  of  us  all, 
to  the  Divine  Benignity. 


RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM      ,  BORROWED 

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